Drops of Milk
by angelofdeath8254
Summary: A collection of one-shots on anything from pairings, to past and future events of different characters. Anything that wasn't in the manga and that I think should be told. R&R.
1. A Black Cat Hungers

**Intro: How did Train meet Sven? Here's my first one shot on how they meet, set shortly after Train leaves Chronos.**

All Train could think about was the insistent rumbling of his very, very, very empty stomach. The icy wind whipped through his brown hair, making it even messier than before, and making the bell that hung upon his choker ring slightly.

"I'm so damn hungry," Train moaned. It had been over two weeks since Saya was killed, since Train left Chronos.

Train kicked angrily at the nearest trash can in the alley he was walking through. Train had long since spent all his money (there hadn't been much to begin with anyway), and was reduced to picking through bins for food. His best find was an unopened bottle of milk that Train had happily devoured on the spot. But that was two days ago. And Train was sick of the bugs that infested bins of garbage.

Train decided that there was only one option left to him- to steal some stomach-filling _food_.

It shouldn't be that hard - after all, he had been an infamous Eraser, the Black Cat, and what would be so hard about breaking into someone's house and grabbing something to eat?

* * *

It was dark, and the area was quiet. Train slinked through the silent streets and alleys, making no noise. After about an hour of searching, Train found a small home that looked empty, but still looked as if someone had been there recently, meaning that there would be _food _there.

Train found the nearest window to the house, and quickly slammed his elbow through the window, the glass shattering with a soft twinkle. Checking to see that the nearby street was empty, Train managed to slide through the window, making sure that none of the glass still stuck on the window pane tore at his clothing.

Train had used the first part of his money to buy new clothes, so he could avoid wearing his Chronos outfit. It wouldn't do himself well if he tore the only bit of clothing that he had.

Train landed lightly onto the balls of his feet, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He could see the kitchen to his immediate left, and Train could swear he heard his stomach rumble the moment he heard the gentle humming of a _refrigerator._

Ten steps, nine steps, eight steps... The fridge was so close. Train seized the handle of the refrigerator, and pulling it open, was met with the sight of his dreams.

The fridge was filled with food. Canned food, bottles of milk, vegetables, everything was there! Train grabbed the first bottle of milk that he saw, and gulped it down eagerly, sighing with relief as the cool liquid soothed his parched, dry throat.

A door from behind slowly creaked open. Train instantly shut the fridge door, setting the empty milk bottle onto a nearby table, and drew out his gun, Hades, aiming it. He saw the silhouette of a figure walking towards him, gun in hand. The figure spoke.

"What are you doing in my house?" the figure said, aiming his gun.

Train was cranky at himself. His hunger must have made him so careless to overlook this figure. The light switch was turned on as Train blinked.

The figure that stood in front of him was wearing a hat on top of his lime-green hair, and wore an eye patch obscuring his right eye. Train's stomach grumbled as the figure looked at him in interest, lowering his gun slightly.

"I'm hungry, okay? Had nothing to eat for sooooo long," Train moaned, stomach grumbling in earnest. "I'll go leave now..."

The figure that stood in front of him looked as if he were thinking.

"Are you a Sweeper?" he asked.

"Intending to be, once I get fed. Once I got hungry, I really couldn't go for any bounties..." Train replied, resisting the urge to just _open the damn fridge _and eat everything he saw.

"Oh. I'm Sven. Sven Vollfied. I'm a Sweeper," Sven replied, pulling out a cigarette from a pocket from his coat and lighting it. "You can help yourself to the fridge as long as you pay me back, okay?"

"I have a better idea," Train said, feeling excited as he pulled open the fridge door and pulled out another bottle of milk. Had Train seen that the milk was expired, he may not have been so fast to drink. "Do you want to pair up?"

"What?"

"Like, be Sweepers together," Train said, finishing his second milk bottle and going for a third.

"That's a great idea – wait that milk's expired!" Sven yelled out in horror as Train finished his third bottle.

"Huh?" Train said, in between gulping down his fourth bottle. Suddenly, Train didn't feel very well.

"Where's the toilet?" Train moaned, as pain shot through his abdomen. He really, really needed to go to the toilet _now._

"That way," Sven pointed, sighing. As Train ran down the corridor to the toilet, a question sprang to his mind.

"You in the toilet? What's your name? And why should I agree to Sweep with you?"

"I'm Train. Train Heartnet. You may know me better as the Black Cat," Train said, feeling much, much better.

"The Black Cat. Oh, I'll be damned," Sven muttered. Was this starving, expired-milk drinking young man really the legendary and supposedly dead assassin the Black Cat?

"I'm the Black Cat, alright," Train whispered into Sven's ear, making no noise during his sudden reappearance from the toilet. "And before I eat, is there anything else that is expired in the fridge?"

"Uh... basically everything..."

"What!" Train's stomach grumbled in response.

**Sadly, on a final note, I do not own Black Cat ****(imagine if I owned Train...). More one-shots will come, depending of what I can think of or whether I like the idea, but they won't be regularly updated. Please review!**


	2. An Eraser and a Thief

**Intro: Rinslett and Jenos go on a date! Wonder what will happen... this is the second one-shot in this story and has absolutely no relation to the first one.**

Rinslett Walker was not only extremely impatient but also extremely angry. How dare that he – that annoyingly good looking imbecile – how dare he be late to her date! Especially since _he _was the one who insisted on this ridiculous date in the first place!

Rinslett looked down onto her expensive diamond watch (nothing but the best for Rinslett) for about the twentieth time in five minutes. Jenos was late. Jenos was _an hour _late!

"Ah...you look as charming as ever, dear Rins," Jenos Hazard purred, as he walked with an arrogant but charming smile towards Rinslett, who remained stiffly embedded in her seat. Around them were hundreds of people walking through the shopping centre that Jenos and Rinslett were meeting at, unaware of the scene that was about to happen.

"You can still saunter here casually with that smile on your face after being an hour late!" Rinslett yelled, as several heads turned their way. "You better have a good reason or I'm not seeing you again!"

"Rins, surely you don't mean that? Surely you trust me?" Jenos smiled, looking deep into Rinslett's eyes. The black suit that Jenos wore only made him more attractive, and more persuasive, something that didn't help with Rinslett's anger at all.

Damn him! Rinslett thought. Of course she didn't mean that at all, but it wasn't like she was going to tell him. Instead, she repeated, "Give me a good reason, Jenos Hazard."

"Had a last minute job I needed to do for Seph-nee and Chronos. Do you want a drink, then, my charming Rinslett?" Jenos asked, the necklace that he wore around his neck dangling. Rinslett slapped him hard on the face that he was so prideful of.

"What was that for!" The attentions of at least half of the bystanders in the area were attracted onto the bickering pair.

"For being late! And calling me 'my charming Rinslett'! You don't own me, dolt!" Rinslett yelled.

"Rinslett...what can I do not to make you angry?" Jenos asked, giving Rinslett another charming, princely smile. Despite Jenos being a total womaniser and jerk at times, Rinslett always had the power to make Jenos do whatever she wanted. If she could manipulate the Black Cat into coming into a 'date' with her during a heist, she could manipulate _anybody_, Chronos number or not. And Jenos was the most idiotic of the numbers.

"Then...you could carry all of my shopping. I have dresses, make-up, and clothes for Eve to buy! I will certainly need your help!" Rinslett smiled coyly, toying with the heart pendant necklace that she wore around her neck. "But if you say no... I won't pick up my phone if you call."

Jenos let out a low grumble, but still managed to smile at her. "Anything for my Rins on our first date..."

"I said, don't call me 'my Rins'!"

An hour later, Jenos regretted ever asking Rinslett Walker out to a date. Sure, there were plenty of really cute women in the shopping centre (sooooo hot, Jenos thought), especially near change rooms, but Rinslett had _a lot _of shopping. It wasn't just heavy. He couldn't see where he was walking. And therefore couldn't get a peek at those really hot women he saw.

Well, my dear Rins. This makes you just a bit more irresistible. Who couldn't resist a feisty, headstrong woman like you? Jenos thought.

Ten seconds later, as Rinslett smiled at him, Jenos changed his mind about regretting this date. Carrying heavy bundles of clothes and accessories was definitely worth seeing his Rinslett Walker smile at him with that expression.

She's falling for my charms, Jenos thought with glee, just as Rinslett slapped him, again on his face.

"Oi! No flirting with other women! We're on a date here, Jenos Hazard!" Rinslett yelled, as Jenos let out a smile. He couldn't help staring at other women. That was just who he was, the self-styled "Prince" of the Chronos numbers.

**I don't own Black Cat, but I will keep writing more one-shots to read **** . Please review!**


	3. Kyoko in Tokyo

**Intro: What happens when Train meets up with Kyoko in her new home of Tokyo?**

"Kuro-ssssaaaammmmaaa!" Kyoko cried out happily as Train finally arrived, standing rock still as Kyoko threw her arms around him.

"Hi, eh, Kyoko," Train managed to answer back, barely managing to speak as Kyoko continued to crush him with an extremely tight hug.

"Has Kuro-sama being well?" Kyoko asked brightly, as Train, now free from Kyoko's iron hug continued rubbing his chest and throwing Kyoko the odd dirty look.

"Yeah... we beat Creed, but my gun broke," Train said, drawing out Hades and pointing to the barrel that Sven had replaced with the barrel of a 'normal' gun, before hastily replacing it back into its holster. An old lady who happened to be walking past when Train drew out Hades had fainted at the sight of the gun, making Train realise that in this faraway place of Tokyo, guns might not be welcome.

"Awww..."

"Yeah, well..." Train stuffed his hands in his pockets as his racked his brains for something to say. "What do you say for finding some food to eat? Sephiria said that there was really nice food here...she called it...wait for it...uh...Joponaise?"

"Do you mean Japanese?" Kyoko added brightly, still extremely glad to see Train and unable to stop staring at him.

"Maybe..." Train scratched his head in confusion. "Sephiria told me to try sushi."

Kyoko squealed in delight. "Sushi is very yummy...Kuro-sama will be full in no time...here."

From there Kyoko half-pulled, half-dragged Train out of one of Tokyo's train stations and into a place even more cluttered. It was a _massive _Tokyo shopping centre, but nothing like Train had ever seen back at home with Sven. Not only were there so much more people than back at home (Train yawned as he remembered how _long_ it took to get to Japan), but everything was written in all these vibrant characters that Train didn't even attempt reading.

"Wow, Kyoko, this place is _massive_," Train said, after Kyoko helpfully dropped him into an empty stool in a sushi store located deep within the labyrinth that was a Tokyo shopping centre.

"Yes. This place is soooo much fun," Kyoko smiled. Train heard a soft purr as a small black cat climbed seemingly out of nowhere from Kyoko's large handbag.

"Hey little fella." The black cat crawled out slowly from Kyoko's handbag, and gave Train's hand a lick before slinking back towards Kyoko. Kyoko rested the cat on her lap as she drew out a small glass bottle of milk and a metal saucer.

"Here..." Kyoko poured the milk into the saucer as a waitress from the sushi store stared at them. "Kuro-sama, you better order some sushi. Kyoko will pay for you!"

"Uh...okay..." Train replied uncertainly. He picked up the laminated menu off the bamboo table and stared at the menu for at least a minute before absorbing what was on it.

"Sushi is...rice wrapped in _seaweed_?" Train exclaimed in horror. "Seaweed as in, the yucky, salty, plant thingys that grab onto your legs at the beach? It's _edible_?"

"Yep!" Kyoko said cheerfully. "But it's really yummy. And not that salty unless you want it to be..."

Kyoko waved to a waitress who came scurrying to their table.

"Kuro-sama here would like some salmon onigiri!" Kyoko cheerfully said as the waitress looked at her weirdly, with the expression one would use when they were definitely _not _pleased to meet their ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. "And Kyoko here would like some fish roe sushi with deep fried eel!"

"Okay, you are order 10," the waitress announced, scribbling on her notes with a bit too much concentration, whilst sneaking a few covert glances at Train, who was trying to coax Kyoko's cat towards him.

"Okay!" Kyoko smiled. As the waitress walked away, muttering about teenage girls acting like kids, Kyoko grabbed Train's out-stretched arm.

"How is Sheldon-san going?" Kyoko asked, looking inside of her handbag until she pulled out her new black phone, decorated with her drawings of black cats, and mainly Train.

"Haven't heard from him much. Last I heard, he was still after Chronos," Train smiled, carefully avoiding looking at Kyoko's phone.

"Awww...Sheldon-san has my number but won't call...and...Kuro-sama?"

"Hmm?" Train asked, suddenly snapped awake from his light doze as another waitress laid down a bamboo box filled with salmon onigiri for Train, and another bamboo box filled with some deep-fried eel sushi and fish roe.

"Why won't you call me daily?" Kyoko asked, pleading as she scrolled through her list of received calls.

"Me? I...uh...I'm busy Sweeping the streets clean of criminals?" Train replied uncertain, the onigiri now the centre of attention.

"Kuro-sama is sooooo brave!" Kyoko yelled out in response, excited as other patrons in the sushi restaurant looked at her with curiosity.

"Er... do I just...eat this?" Train asked, picking up the onigiri with his left hand and nibbing one corner of the triangular onigiri.

"Yep. Look at Kyoko." Kyoko picked up the sushi from her bamboo box that was filled with rice and deep fried eel. "You pick it up, and eat it! Simple! That's why I like sushi sooooo much!"

"I have to eat the seaweed too?" Train said, pulling a face. Kyoko nodded brightly.

Screwing his eyes, Train ate a bite of the sushi, only to be surprised that the seaweed was in fact, quite nice.

"Kuro-sama likes the seaweed, right?" Kyoko asked.

"Can I have more?" Train asked eagerly, reaching for the second and last onigiri triangle that lay waiting.

"Kuro-sama likes sushi!" Kyoko announced happily, as the black cat snuck out from her lap, climbed the table and promptly stole a piece of sushi from her bamboo box.

Train had an excellent hour. He was filled to the brim with various sushi, such as chicken, tuna, salmon and even more onigiri. He was also pleased to see Kyoko was more than easily controlling her temper, and was sure that she would keep her promise not to kill no matter what.

"Will Kuro-sama come again?" Kyoko asked, as Train waited for the next train to arrive that would take him back to Tokyo Airport.

"Yes Kyoko. Your Kuro-sama will be coming back to Tokyo to see you, and eat more sushi," Train smiled, as the next train roared into the station, and as Train waved farewell.

**Here is another one-shot completed, a result of assignment procrastination. As I said earlier, I do not own Black Cat, but keep reading, because there will be more to come. Please review! I will be procrastinating more on fanfic if I get more reviews... :) **


	4. The Dreamy Visitor

**Intro: Train has had quite the day out, and falls asleep exhausted, only to find Saya Minatsuki waiting in his dreams.**

It had been a hard, hot day sweeping with Sven, but it was definitely worth the million dollar reward they had received after catching their bounty. Train flopped lifelessly onto the double bed stashed within one of their safe houses in Elsida that _actually_ had decent and edible food stored within. Train felt every sore muscle within his body, but what was _really _making him tired was the lack of nutritious and yummy food that he had been fed during the chase. Sven had refused to buy Train more than a small container full of wilted lettuce and a glass bottle of milk.

Train felt himself drifting away to sleep, still fully dressed and on the soft covers of the bed, and before Sven could come in and demand Train to help him with some chores, Train was happily snoring away on his back and fully dressed on the double bed.

"Train... you still haven't forgotten me, have you?" a voice said cheerfully. Train thought, that for a minute that he had slept through the night only to be woken up by a young female voice.

"Mmmm?" Train replied sleepily, still feeling the hold of sleep on his muscles. But then, as he fully opened his eyes, he realised that he definitely wasn't in the Elsida safe house he shared with Sven. Everything surrounding him had a dream-like fog quality, despite the chair that Train could _swear _he was sitting on and the blue lake that glittered gently in the sunlight.

"You haven't changed. I'm glad," the voice continued, getting louder. Train suddenly snapped awake as he saw a young woman standing by the lake front, with short black hair, a fringe, and wearing a flowery yukata that Train knew belonged to Saya.

"Saya?" Train asked, confused as the lake setting around him registered in his sleepy mind. Saya laughed as she approached Train, who sat up wearily from the beach chair that he was lying on.

"Of course," Saya replied, looking deep into Train's eyes. "I just want to say, firstly, that I am proud of you. Watching you become a Sweeper and finding your true self is something that I hoped you would achieve when you continued seeing me, even after you recovered."

"Am I dreaming?" Train asked, still very slow on the uptake.

"Yes. But that doesn't make me any less real, does it?" Saya continued, faking a look of horror.

"Saya!" Train yelled, after finally realising that it was _Saya _standing in front of him. For an ex-assassin, Train was definitely very slow on picking out things when he was waking up.

"Yes?" Train looked at Saya, as she stood on the sand, grinning in her trademark yukata.

"I-" Train was at a loss for words. It had been over two years since Creed killed Saya, since he last had a proper conversation with her. Train wasn't sure exactly what his encounter with Saya was when he was trapped in the Doctor's transforming game, but it definitely wasn't talking to her face to face. That time, Train was more concerned with not only getting out alive, but saving Eve.

"Take your time. I'm glad you didn't kill Creed. He may have killed me for the wrong reasons, but he deserves his punishment, living out the rest of his life. It is more difficult than dying. Now, Train, you can open your mouth this time without stopping and gaping like a fish, I hope." Saya continued to look at Train amused, and it was as if she never died, but was always there, a constant companion.

"Thank you," Train said simply. For someone prone to not only chatting but constantly annoying people (Sven would nod furiously at that statement), those two words seemed like an understatement. But from Train, it meant a lot more.

Saya smiled, as she gripped Train's hand, feeling not just solid but warm. It really was as if Saya was standing next to Train and talking to him.

"Thank you for helping me out with that last Railgun with Creed. If you didn't help..." Train looked into the distance, distracted by memories of when he finally managed to beat Creed. "Thanks for being there when I really needed help. Without you...Princess would be..."

"Train. Cheer up." It was from nowhere that Saya conjured the milk bottle from thin air. But this was a dream after all. "Drink up. And no, this milk is _not _expired, not like the milk lurking in the fridge in that safe house that you are staying in at the moment, either."

"Saya..." Train grabbed the milk bottle from Saya's hand and drunk it, feeling refreshed as the cool liquid coursed throughout his body, and making a mental note that sadly, the milk in the safe house _was _expired and shouldn't be drunk. But this time in the dream, Train didn't need to worry about diarrhoea from expired milk.

"I like them. All the people that you met after I died and you left Chronos. You still got on with life, but never truly letting go of the past – and me. Sven, Eve, Annette, Rinslett – all those people will be there for you whenever you need them. And I will be watching you, in spirit." Saya sighed, and sat exhausted onto, another chair that appeared next to Train's.

"How long will you be here?" Train asked, the question slipping out of his mouth before he could help it. It sounded like a question a child would ask during a dream.

"As long as you want. But the sun is rising on your side, and I bet Sven will be eager to wake you up," Saya replied, toying with her yukata. "I miss being a Sweeper. Sure, being dead is peaceful and relaxing in its own way, but life is so much more interesting, and, as stupid as it sounds, alive. Never take it for granted. But from what I can see, you haven't."

"What? It's already morning?" Train grumbled. "Why can't sleep be like, for _longer_? I'm tired."

"I'll always be here. But I doubt that you will forget that," Saya laughed. "You haven't changed one bit."

Train heard a loud, but familiar yell echo though a distance, making the dream where Saya stood shake slightly.

"That's Sven waking me up, right?" Train asked, annoyed.

"You're the one who should know," Saya smiled. The yells got louder and Train knew he would be pulled away from sleep and Saya any second now.

"I'll find you again. It's my dream, anyway," Train said. Train looked at Saya'a warm eyes, relishing seeing her again, looking so alive and real, before being pulled away and opening his eyes to see Sven standing over him, looking extremely disgruntled.

"For goodness sake, Train! Get up already! It's noon and we have debts to sort out," Sven yelled, glaring at Train.

"Noon?" Train said, yawning, much to Sven's annoyance.

**This is the fourth one-shot in this collection! And this is seriously fun to write, especially with the reviews that are coming :). Don't forget to ****review****, and nope, I do not own Black Cat whatsoever. **


	5. A Sweeping Girl and a Windy Boy

**Intro: Eve and Leon meet up and have a day out. What will happen?**

Eve closed her eyes, waiting for the tell-tale sound and soft feel of wind on her face to signal Leon's arrival. The deserted park that Eve was sitting in was quiet, in a comforting way, and Eve felt it immediately when Leon arrived. Leon still liked to show off his wind Tao powers, even after the Apostles of the Stars were disbanded after Creed's defeat. Eve had taught Leon a heavy lesson when she beat him, and over a period of several months, the pair had become firm friends.

"Eve," Leon complained, jumping off his wheel-less skateboard as Eve remained sitting with her eyes closed. "Why am I always the last one to get here?"

Eve opened her eyes, staring at Leon until he turned away.

"I'm here first because I get here _on time_. Not half an hour late. I wouldn't want Train or Sven to get suspicious," Eve said, smiling slightly.

"You do know, as I flew here, that I overheard _Train _saying that he thought you were sneaking out to date?" Leon replied, sitting down next to Eve.

"Damn!" Eve muttered, slapping her palm. "That is _so _Train. But he has no proof. Do you want to get started?"

"No kidding Eve! Let's get started. Today, I am sooooo going to kick your ass!" Leon announced, checking to see that his goggles were firmly in place.

"You wish. As you have the last hundred or so times I kicked _your _ass?" Eve replied, putting on her poker face and stretching her arms out. "I'm the one who wants to beat Train, so I can't let you win."

"Well, I'm the one who learnt some new tricks!" Leon retorted. This pre-duelling argument was a ritual for both Eve and Leon. They would chat, they would practice, and they would bicker, always pre-duel. It was just another odd tradition that popped up as Leon and Eve began training together more frequently.

"Well...my new tricks come from my _brain_. Where did yours come from?" Eve smirked, waiting for the inevitable moment when Leon would attack. Leon _always _attacked first. It was something that always happened, just like the pre-duelling bicker. Sure enough, Leon wilted under Eve's stream of insults (her heavy reading helped – some books seemed just to pour insult after insult into Eve's brain, and Eve had plenty of practice insulting Train – it was fun), and leaping onto his skateboard, drew a whizzing ball of wind in the palms of his hands and fired it at Eve.

Eve concentrated, and roughly deflected the ball of wind by transforming her right hand into a thick, metal paddle, similar to those used in rowing races. As her hand returned to her normal shape, white, stream-lined angel wings sprouted from her back and Eve flew gracefully into the air until she was eye level with Leon.

"Where is this 'trick' that you have learnt?" Eve said, her wings flapping slowly in the air. "Don't tell me that you are _still _going easy on me?"

"Dream on, Eve!" Leon yelled, giving Eve a badly hidden wink, his face scrunched with concentration. This time Leon hovered serenely in the air, waiting, as Eve flew forward to attack. Eve's golden hair morphed into two massive fists, but with the added addition of sharpened spikes of hair on the 'knuckles' for extra damage. Eve would never hold back, no matter who she was fighting.

"Gotcha!" Leon yelled in triumph, as the wind, still seconds earlier, turned into a fully blown gale.

What's he celebrating about? Eve thought curiously. As far as she could see, all Leon had done was to increase the wind. It wouldn't blow her off course – only Leon's most powerful tornados could do that. But a loud rustling noise caught her attention.

"This is why I was late!" Leon smiled. From behind him, fluttering madly in the wind, were hundreds, possibly thousands of crinkled brown leaves. "I was collecting leaves that autumn left behind."

"Leaves?" Eve asked, resisting the urge to laugh. "It's not like that leaves could rip you apart."

"That wasn't the point." Leon looked at Eve with triumph, giving her another wink. "Leaf tornado!"

At Leon's command, the seemingly harmless swirl of leaves spun into a mad tornado. Eve's hair fluttered madly in the wind as Leon disappeared into the leaf tornado and added to the power of it. Even from here, Eve could feel the pressure from the wind. The last time that Leon had conjured a tornado this powerful, he was trying to kill her.

He's being serious, Eve realised. He may have gone soft on me before but not this time. And it was here that Eve realised that secondary effect of the leaves – most of them were with Leon in his twirling tornado, but the rest was spread around the park that they were practicing in, obscuring her view. The leaves were only meant to be a distraction from the real attack.

"You've really mastered control of your power Leon," Eve cried out as she braced herself for this attack.

"Yeah! I actually _practised_!" Leon yelled tauntingly from the centre of the tornado, the wind distorting his voice. "Leaf tornado!"

Eve closed her eyes to concentrate instead on the sound of the wind. Even with bits of leaves flying around, if she couldn't see them she wouldn't be distracted and blinded by it and Eve could clearly hear when a large, swirling tornado came close. Even a Train distracted-with-whatever-distracted-him-utterly would hear this buried underground.

"Aero slash!"

Eve opened her eyes as a thin blade of wind dashed towards her with no time for a shield to be transformed. Eve somersaulted back, the attack missing by millimetres as it flew over her head.

"Leaf tornado!" Leon's tornado finally moved forward to attack, and in desperation, Eve remembered a picture she had seen on a cover of a book that she had read recently. Her soft angel wings turned silver and shiny as they hardened into sharp, steel feathers, and Eve used every ounce of her skill to turn herself into roughly into a steel bird. However, unlike the last time that she turned herself into metal to stop Leon's attack, this time she merely covered herself in thin, but strong steel feathers to cut the attack.

The leaves and wind hit Eve hard, but the steel wings sliced through the wind, softening the blow. Eve saw Leon's hand move forward to attack, and she instinctively let loose several sharp feathers towards him. Leon dodged the feathers, as a black blur came flying towards him. Caught unawares, a black object hit Leon squarely in the head.

"OW!" Leon yelled, the wind instantly dispelling, to reveal the blank faces of Sven and Train waiting on the ground.

"Oops..." Train said, hiding a smirk as the black object flew back towards him and was revealed to be his gun, Hades. "My bad." Train slid Hades back into its holster and Eve and Leon landed, Leon glaring mutinously at Train. Eve hid a smirk as she returned her appearance to normal.

"Your bad. Huh. If I knew better, I would say that you were aiming at me," Leon muttered, rubbing his head as Eve stared at Train.

"We were training. Leon wasn't attacking me," Eve stated as Sven smiled nervously.

"Train thought you were sneaking out to date," Sven replied.

"Did not!" Train yelled back.

"Really?" Sven said flatly.

"Yeah! Really!"

Eve rolled her eyes and looked at Leon, still rubbing his head where Hades had hit it.

"Train didn't mean any harm. He's just overprotective," Eve said, grabbing his hand.

"He better be. Because I'll be around for a while," Leon replied, looking deep into Eve's eyes as his cheeks burned a deep cherry red.

**Sorry for the late upload, but I am massively busy at the moment, with exam revision and exams etc. I would like to thank EVERYONE who has reviewed this story. I appreciate every review that I received, because they give me a big smile and a YAY! And I wouldn't want anyone to think that their reviews aren't being heard. I love reviews :). So keep them coming...I'll be back with another chapter soon!**

**Just out of curiosity...the title of this fanfic came firstly from Train's love of milk. I think of each one-shot as a 'drop of milk' that fills an empty glass bottle, and hopefully, I'll fill the bottle high enough with drops to satisfy readers!**

**Bonus brownie points if you can figure out the inspiration for Eve's steel bird :)**


	6. Farewelling XI

**Intro: Set after Cerberus' attack on Creed's castle, it is Belga's funeral. *sniff***

"I still can't..." Jenos' voice broke off as he stared at the sleek black coffin that was rested on a raised wooden table and surrounded by flowers. Resting within the flowers, and in front of the coffin, was a long black and gold cannon with XI etched on the side. Belga's weapon.

"It's not your fault," Naizer said, stepping forward and laying his uninjured hand on Jenos' shoulder. "I should've killed Creed that night, it's my fault that-"

"Naizer." Sephira's command was sharp, but still laced with gentility. "It is not your fault. If you want to go on that way, you could say it was Jenos' fault for stopping Belga killing Creed and yourself." (Jenos looked rather uncomfortable from that statement and looked away) "You could say that it was my fault for sending you there in the first place. And so on. You must not blame yourself. You will have another chance to avenge Belga. But you must wait."

Naizer sighed as he sat down on a hard plastic chair. Behind them, looking out of place compared to the Chronos numbers wearing their uniforms was Train, Sven and Eve. Sven had suggested that they come because Train had been there when Cerberus had fought Creed. Train had bickered, but finally agreed to go.

Train looked curiously at Sephira, who sat down with Naizer, looking more aged than ever. He knew that Sephira took this death as her fault, as she did with all the others, and it was one of the reasons Train still respected her. Sephira might use people for her own purposes, but not only hated doing that, but still had the heart to mourn for one of her colleagues.

"Jenos?" Standing in the main aisle of the small, modern room that the others were sitting at was Rinslett, her faced flushed pink with the effort of running. She had worn a blonde wig today, and Jenos looked immensely relieved to see her.

"Rins! You came!" Jenos ran towards her before hesitating, throwing a fleeting glimpse towards Sephira.

"Don't look at her," Rinslett hissed, grabbing Jenos's face roughly and turning it back to face her own face. "Why does she have to be here?"

Sephira, sitting several metres away could clearly hear Rinslett whisper, but pretended to ignore her and walked towards Belga's coffin, murmuring under her breath.

"She the commander. Belze should be here too, but he's running late." Rinslett looked bored, uncaring about the ways of Chronos, until she saw Train.

"Train! Eve!" she squealed, leaving Jenos looking hurt in the aisle whilst running towards Train. Rinslett gave him a tight hug, which Train barely managed to return (while trying to get his feet to touch the ground – Rinslett seemed to like carrying him high in the air without even considering that he was a fully-grown man). However, with Eve she only gave her a gentle hug and a smile before reaching into that handbag that she always wore and pulling out a small red parcel.

"Yeah, just forget about me, it's not like I exist at all," Sven muttered, glaring at Train, who gave him his most innocent expression.

"Ooh, sorry Sven!" Rinslett left Eve alone to unwrap her present before turning to Sven. "How are you going? Still in debt?" Rinslett teased, much to Sven's annoyance.

"In debt. Of course. With someone eating through the roof like _him_-" Sven pointed to Train, who was staring at a fly buzzing around the room-"debt is eating though every dollar that we make. To Train, it's 'eat this' or 'I'm starving!' and so on."

"What?" Train said, hearing his name.

"Never mind," Rinslett and Sven replied simultaneously. Train gave them a short glare before Sephira turned around to face the room and called for attention. Jenos, who was still standing dejectedly in the aisle, his ego damaged by Rinslett's sudden rejection of his company, sat back down in a stair, sinking into a depression without Rinslett's company.

"Today we are here to farewell a dedicated member of the Chronos numbers. Someone who was hard-working, but most of all, a companion." Both Naizer and Jenos stared at the floor, eyes watering and feeling the burden of that fateful day, both feeling the responsibility of Belga's death on their shoulders.

"Belga. As your commander, and the No. 1 of the Chronos numbers, I, Sephira Arks, thank you for your service to Chronos, as well as being a companion to the members of Cerberus. Without you, Cerberus will never be the same." Sephira stared at the coffin for one last time, before returning to her seat, looking stony. Train and Sven remained seated, unsure of whether or not to say anything. They were at the funeral only to pay their respects.

"I'll say something next," Jenos whispered, getting up. Rinslett, eying Jenos' expression, stood up, and together, holding hands, they reached the table where Belga's coffin lay.

"Belga. I-"Jenos's voice choked as he struggled to think of something to say. "Thanks for being a team with me, for making my job fun. Every time we Erased together, you, Naizer and I, it was smooth, and fun, and you were part of that. Thank you. I -" Tears poured down Jenos's face as it hit him, as he finally faced the fact that Belga was truly gone. "Thanks for saving my life."

Jenos buried his head in Rinslett's shoulder, as, looking embarrassed and red-cheeked, she led him back to his seat, Jenos's head remaining firmly entrenched in her neck.

"I bet he overdid that crying just so he could have Rinslett's sympathies. That flirt," Sven muttered, Eve nodding in agreement as she looked at the whip that Rinslett had given her, similar to the one that she used during her robberies.

"Does Rins want the Princess to be a little thief like her?" Train whispered, hiding a smile. "She'll end up as a Sven clone! All serious and a Sweeper!"

"No, I'll end up being better than you," Eve replied, ignoring Train's wide-eyed expression.

"Naizer?" Sephira asked, offering her arm to help him get up. Naizer's chest was still bandaged from where Echidna shot him.

"Thanks." Naizer stood, slightly unbalanced in front of Belga's coffin, his right hand touching the cold black coffin. "Belga...I don't know what to say. What is there to say? You saved our lives..." Naizer closed his eyes, his hands shaking. "Everything that Jenos said. I feel that way too. But I know you would be mad if you saw me like this, mourning. But this is what friends do. We save each other, and we mourn for each other. You were like a brother." Naizer's voice turned into a whisper, but his hands no longer shook. "Farewell. Rest in peace."

As Naizer returned to his seat, he felt his burden disappear, felt the responsibility for Belga's death fade. Belga was the second partner that he lost, but unlike with Ash's death, he finally understood how to get over it. You had to accept and move on.

"I have something I want to add." Rinslett stood up from her seat, ignoring Sephira but addressing Belga. "I may not have known you for long, but watching you try and kill Creed, trying to rescue me, you have my respect and admiration as a thief. You deserve every blessing." Rinslett sat back down with Jenos, but frowned when his attention returned to Sephira.

"Jenos!" Rinslett hissed. When Jenos failed to reply, she slapped him roughly on the back of the head. "What-oh Rinslett!" Just seeing her fuming expression, Jenos gave her an apologetic look.

"As much as you don't like Sephira, she is my commander, and I do need to _look _at her, you know," Jenos said coyly.

Rinslett mumbled under her breath, muttering insults at Sephira, as Train, Sven and Eve stood up.

"Uh...we'll leave now," Train said eying the door.

"Do you have to say it like that? Couldn't you say that we had a bounty to hunt or something, but just as long as you said it in a – you know - _different _manner?" Sven added, glaring at Train.

"Thanks for coming, Heartnet," Sephira said, nodding at Train.

"You too Sephira," Train replied.

"I am sure that we will meet again, Heartnet. For now, keep safe."

Train, Sven and Eve left the room, Eve swinging her whip around experimentally and accidently shattering a statue in their path.

**This story is definitely one of my fail efforts to write a sad chapter. I'm bad at making people cry, maybe except through laughter. With my exams on the horizon (combined with the usual last second cramming and procrastination), I'm not sure when I can update. Maybe next week. Depends on how bad I fail. Anyway...thanks for reading this far, and please review :D :D :D :D :D.**


	7. A Shattered Heart

**Intro: Train's POV the night Saya is killed by Creed.**

I sat on the edge of the bed, the darkness surrounding me like a blanket. I estimated that the ten days in the 'disciplinary room' that I was sentenced to for disobeying the Elders of Chronos was nearly up. Still, the only thing I could think about was Saya, and how she was reacting to the fact that I had disappeared off the planet for ten whole days without contacting her once.

My thoughts were broken as the doors to the room slid open, revealing Sephira, who was looking stern.

"Come on out, Heartnet," she said, the sudden intake of light blinding me for several seconds.

"What?" I joked. "You're letting me out so soon? I was starting to like it here."

Sephira said nothing in reply to my comment, instead stating "I believe you know that from now on your actions will be severely restricted. Even Hades will be under my care." Sephira remained silent for several seconds, before looking at me and asking "Is this acceptable?"

"Of course," I replied, knowing that there was no choice but to say that. This would make things complicated. To top things of, I suddenly had a very bad feeling in my gut. Something bad was about to happen, and I wasn't going to be armed with Hades.

* * *

As I ran back towards Saya's apartment, I noticed that the streets seemed nosier than normal. Several seconds later, I heard the loud boom and popping of fireworks and realised what night it was tonight.

"Fireworks..." I muttered as I walked down the corridor towards Saya's flat. "No wonder it's busier than usual."

Those ten days in that dark disciplinary room had given me way too much time to think. To think about Chronos, but especially Saya. I knew she wanted me to leave Chronos, and I wanted to as well, but if I left I knew I would be hunted by Chronos until they found me. Any freedom that I would gain by leaving would dissipate as soon as I tried to run from them. Faking my own death would be a great idea, but I thought it best to ask Saya before doing anything.

As I arrived at Saya's door, I saw a rose wrapped in fine, expensive paper sticking out just above the handle. The bad feeling that I had felt before I left the Chronos building intensified, and some gut instinct of mine told me that I would not find Saya here.

Instead, I reached out for the rose, wondering what this was all about. The contents on the paper shocked me. I never expected this part of my past to return. The letter read:

_To my beloved Train,_

_Tonight I will release you from that witch's curse. Look forward to it. _

"Creed," I hissed, anger filling me. I realised what the bad feeling I had felt meant.

"He's going to kill Saya," I realised, saying out it loud. I kicked down the door, noting the thin slit in it. Had that coward tried to stab Saya with his sword from behind her door? The anger that had raged throughout me intensified, and I felt a hatred run through my veins that I had only felt after I saw my parents getting killed.

I walked swiftly across the room, seeing the window open, the curtains fluttering in the room. I approached the window and stared out into the night, scrunching Creed's letter in my hand.

"Creed," I said out to the night. "What in the world are you thinking?" Creed's letter kept running around my head like flies, over and over again. _Tonight I will release you from that witch's curse..._

No! I can't let Creed kill you, Saya, I thought desperately. There's something I really need to tell you. Don't do anything stupid! Please!

I jumped out the window, the fireworks exploding loudly in the background as I followed the trail through dust and leaves that marked the path created by Saya, then widened by Creed. I felt a surge of affection for Saya as I noted the surroundings that she had run through. Saya, even being hunted by a madman determined to end her life still had it in her to find a place to confront Creed where no one could get hurt. Saya always worried about everyone else before herself.

"That's my Saya," I said, wanting to smile, but the tension within me was so high that my face merely twitched.

The fireworks got louder, irritating me as the adrenalin spread around my body. It made it hard to hear anything, but one thing I was clearly aware of was the loud bang of a gun that echoed eerily around the surrounding area. And I had heard Saya's gun fire enough to recognise the shot.

"Saya!" I tore recklessly through several more alleys, before I saw a scene that chilled my blood. Not even killing dozens in cold blood could make this feeling run through me.

I saw three young boys run away from the street, yelling in fear and one turning his head one last time to look at the scene. Creed was standing over a fallen Saya, gun shaking in her hand, the blood pooling around her. Creed's katana had been shattered, no doubt by a shot to the spine of the blade, and as he held the broken blade and approached Saya, I heard him whisper to her, murder in every aspect of his voice.

"It looks like you don't have the energy to pull that trigger again. What a shame, hehehee," Creed smiled. Saya let out a small groan, and Creed said "Well then, let me put you out of your misery."

Those words reawakened the fire within me, and I ran forward, throwing every ounce of hatred into a punch into Creed's face. Creed was thrown back several metres, as I breathed in deeply and stared at Saya. There was so much blood. So much blood...

"Train," Saya whispered. It hurt me to hear her voice, once filled with the joys of life, to be shattered into this weak whisper. I was filled with so much fire that I couldn't even describe the emotion.

"Creed!" I shouted, itching for the familiar weight of Hades in my hands. "What do you _think_ you are doing?"

Creed sat up slowly, a grin still etched into that _face_ of his as he chuckled. What the _hell _did he even _think _he was doing?

The fireworks continued in the background, not even realising, or caring that Saya Minatsuki was dying by my feet. I glared at Creed, just wanting to rip him apart, to see his blood on the street as vengeance for Saya...

"You came really quick, Train," Creed said. "I know why you're angry. However please don't misunderstand. This is all to help you."

"Help me?" I said incredulously. Help me. Who. Did. Creed. Think. He. Was.

"Of course. That woman is a witch who wants to cause your downfall. You just haven't realised it yet. That's why I have to kill her. To save you, dear Train..."

_Save me!_ The need to see Creed dead at my feet overcame me as I slapped him as hard as I could. I might not have Hades, but I could still kill this bastard without it. I _would _kill this bastard.

"Quit fooling around, "I hissed menacingly. "Do you have a death wish?"

Creed gave me a look that was filled with sadness? apology? before saying, "It'd be pointless to explain it to you right now...I had best leave, otherwise you would kill me..."

Creed leapt onto the roof of the nearest building, looking down at me with the same sadness he had shown in his eyes earlier. "It doesn't matter, she will die anyway. When she dies, you should awaken. Then you will discover...what I did was right." Creed disappeared into the night.

"Don't run away!" I yelled into the night. I was going to run into the night, to find Creed and have his blood dripping down the street, before I felt a gentle tug on my coat.

"Saya," I whispered, the emotions of hate and anger within me disappearing to one of hopelessness.

"Train, you don't need to be angry. I fought him by my own volition."

Saya smiled at me, as I bent down towards her, looking for her wound.

"Don't worry about him...I have something to tell you...Do you want to listen?"

"Idiot! Don't talk," I yelled at her, panic rising as I saw how deep her wound was. "I'll take you to see the doctor immediately." Saya wouldn't die. She couldn't. Not Saya. Not Saya...It was all I could think.

Saya continued, ignoring me. "Actually...I was about to move."

"Hey!" I exclaimed, wanting to move Saya but not knowing how to do it. "I told you to stop talking!"

Saya looked up at the sky, flashing with fireworks, as a look of nostalgia crossed her face. "I have used this city as a base for sweeper work for a long time..."

I gave up on trying to keep her quiet. I wanted to tell her everything, wanted to tell her that I was going to leave Chronos for her, so we could go sweeping together as a team, but I just wanted to hear her voice, hear her voice for what could be the last time ever.

"You've already begun to smile...I believed...that there was no longer any reason to stay..." Saya's voice faded away weakly, as she met my eyes, those beautiful brown eyes that I never appreciated for the light that shone in them...

"Saya..." I murmured, the realisation that I couldn't save her starting to sink in.

"To be...able to meet you...I am truly happy. I have been to many places...and also met many people..." Saya's voice trailed off again, and I realised what an effort it must be for her to talk, as she struggled to remain alive. "However, the only one that I could consider my friend... was you."

I sat there, with Saya, shocked, her words running through my head as she started to cry. Saya noticed this too, as she smiled "Why am I crying? How odd..." The fireworks climbed up into its finale, and Saya's voice grew stronger as she stared deeply into my eyes, her tears sliding down her cheek.

"Train, about me...you can...forget about me..." Saya's voice sailed off, strength gone.

I wondered why she said that. Why should she want me to forget her, the person who made me realise that I was a stray cat tied to no one?

"You...what are you saying..." I asked, puzzled. The tears continued to flow out of Saya's eyes, and it took all of my effort not to cry. I couldn't...I couldn't...

Saya smiled at me, and closed her eyes, I thought to blink away her tears, but she never opened them again. The fireworks banged in their finale as I realised that Saya...Saya...Saya had just...died. It wasn't just sadness and loss that I felt. It was shame. I had let Creed kill her, didn't stop him in time...

I never told her. Would never be able to. I was going to be a stray cat, and she would never see me truly free. But most of all, I never got to thank her. I closed my eyes and clutched Saya, letting out the tears that I had been holding back.

**Sorry for not updating in over a fortnight, but I had my end of year exams and all. I know this chapter is different from the rest I've written, firstly as it is in 1****st**** person, but also because I used dialogue from the manga because I believed that this sad scene is more in cannon if I used this. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and I would love to find out your opinion by giving me a review! :D I'll try and update ASAP, but no guarantees as I am going through quite a few busy weeks of my life. :)**


	8. Black Cat goes to School  Part 1

**Intro: Sven and Train decide to find an expensive bounty that is hiding at a university. But before they can go sweeping, Train needs to pass the entrance test.**

"Svenny-baby, look at this!" Train yelled in excitement as he burst through the doors of their safe house, a grubby and crumpled poster in his hand. Sven sat at the dining table, staring at Train, annoyed and trying to resist the urge to hit Train on the head for calling him Svenny-baby.

"What is it, Train? And I've told you heaps of times _not _to call me Svenny-baby!" Sven replied, still fixing Train a glare that would've made anyone else but Train faint.

Train dismissed Sven's comment as he waved the poster in Sven's face.

"Look at this bounty! Two and a half million dollars! That's more bounty than we've gotten in our last ten bounties combined. Imagine what we could eat if we caught this guy! Just imagine..." Train's voice sailed off as he imagined the cuisines that he could purchase, and maybe an unlimited eating marathon. Sven continued to stare at Train as he began drooling, and snatched the poster from Train's now-loose hand.

"Carter Rueson. Wanted for the murders of several university students from the University of Wulkot. This sounds great and all, Train, but firstly, can you consider the cost to get to Wulkot in the first place? It is ages from here. Plus, to go to this university, you need to pass an entrance test. I'll have no problem, but you...?" Sven gave Train a significant look, and then slapped him on the head.

"Ow! Sven, what was that for?" Train complained, annoyed at being awoken from his pleasant daydreams about food.

"Did you even read the poster past the bounty, Train?" Sven sighed, guessing the answer.

"Yeah...Wulkot...I remember Saya went there once to hunt for a bounty that didn't exist. And university...I bet the guy is a student on campus killing the others at night," Train replied carefully, knowing the answer that Sven expected him to say.

"I think so too, but what else do you know about the University of Wulkot, Train? What else?"

Train frowned. "It's far...away?"

"To get in, you firstly need to pass a general knowledge entrance test that is infamous for its high standards. I could ace it, but I don't think schooling was part of your education when you were younger," Sven replied, catching the look of annoyance on Train's face, who knew it was true. "There's no point in wasting several thousand to Wulkot if you aren't even going to pass this test. And with the large amount of bounty, it would be too dangerous for me to go alone."

"You mean, you need me, Sven?" Train grinned, as Sven took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

"Yes Train...as much as I hate to increase your ego, I need your skills with mine on this one too," Sven replied, looking defeated as he took another puff of the cigarette, knowing that the feelings within him that were about to erupt were only held back by the numbing sensation of the cigarette.

"Awesome!" Train crowed, jumping into the air.

"Entrance test, Train," Sven reprimanded, bringing Train back down to earth.

"Right. Can't I just copy you, or someone else?" Train asked, satisfied with his cheating skills.

Sven rolled his eyes, the frustration growing. This would be hard to explain. "That's the point. You're not meant to cheat. If you cheat, you are disqualified and can't get in whatever you do. We might not even sit next to each other. So you may sit next to someone else who isn't as smart as me and fail anyway. The only course of action is..."

"I copy you?" Train interrupted.

Sven ignored Train and continued by stating, "The only course of action is that you learn."

"What?" Train exclaimed. Sven wondered whether it was his imagination, or did Train suddenly sound nervous?

"You learn. I'll sign us up for the entrance tests, and you are going to study like you never have before," Sven continued, already imagining the long hours he was going to spend with Train.

"And when is the test held?" Train had gotten over the initial shock Sven's statement, and thought deeply about needing to study. Train was pretty sure that learning _stuff _for the entrance test couldn't be harder than learning how to use a gun at a young age. So he was completely unprepared for how hard it was.

"Next month. I've got one long month coming where I'm going to need to teach you everything you need to know to become a student at the University of Wulkot."

* * *

"Can't I just copy Sven?" Train moaned, as his head slammed onto the table covered with past exam papers, scrap paper and pens. Sven had given up on tutoring Train on the very first night, and three weeks later, it was Eve that had the patience to teach him.

"No, Train. You can't," Eve said wearily, losing count of the amount of times that Train had asked this. The night was dark, and the only light in the room came from a small lamp that gave the small room an orangey glow.

"What's the point of knowing this, anyway?" Train complained, voice muffled by the paper that his head was resting on. "Finding out what _x_ and_ y_ is is not going to help you survive in life. And what kind of stupid question is' finding' out about which triggernometry ratio you use like-" Train picked up a piece of paper, unaware of his mispronunciation of trigonometry and continued "sin θ is opposite over hypotenuse, whatever that means."

Train threw the paper down in disgust as he placed his head on the table again. His head felt hot and about to explode, with the amount of information that Eve was trying to cram in killing him. He simply wanted to run out and help Sven with the minor bounties that he was looking for to pay for their plane tickets to Wulkot. But Eve had kept him indoors, telling Train in a bored voice why the continuation to _this _pattern was A), not D), and why the solution of the riddle was _this _not _that_. Train was regretting ever showing Sven that poster, because studying was even harder than physical training.

"Come on Train, don't give up. You want to have that eating marathon, yes?" Eve said, secretly finding it amusing that Train had trouble studying. Eve couldn't see what the fuss was. She had no problems remembering anything, and Eve was pleased that there _was _something she was better at than Train. It seemed almost mean to compare herself to him.

Train didn't reply as he had just fallen asleep, his snores gently echoing around the room. Eve sighed, but turned off the light, blanketing the room in darkness. It seemed that there was a Plan B that was needed if this bounty hunt was going to get anywhere.

* * *

"Train, if you fail this, then the mission is blown, okay?"Sven muttered out of the corner of his mouth as Train stared at awe at the university. It was massive, modern and shiny, and even Sven felt out of place in this centre for learning. They were surrounded by several hundred other hopefuls, all wanting to gain a place at this prestigious university. Living somewhere within this school, was their bounty, Carter Rueson.

"I've wasted a month of my life studying for this wretched exam. I'm not going to fail, Sven," Train replied out of the corner of his mouth, for once not excited about hunting their bounty. Train simply couldn't imagine sitting at a table for three hours, looking at a piece of paper that was trying to make his brain explode. How the Princess could do this, Train didn't know. But Train firmly implanted the imagine of a room filled with his favourite foods, hot and steamy, their fragrance making Train feel alive for the first time in a month. Without realising it, Train was drooling as Sven led him into the examination hall.

* * *

It had been several days after the entrance test, and the need to have passed grew stronger as the news hit televisions – another murder at the University of Wulkot, and it was getting brutal. A Madison Verania was found in the morning by her roommate, dead in a bath tub filled with blood. The killer Carter had left a message on the mirror of the bathroom, taunting the traumatised roommate and telling her that it was only on his choice that she survived. Sven turned off the television with a flick of his remote, feeling an ache in his body. Another had been killed by their bounty, and they couldn't act because of a stupid entrance test!

"Sven!" Train called out. "Some person just dumped off these really nice envelopes at our doorstep. I don't know what they are for, but we could probably get ten dollars just for selling it!"

"Give me these envelopes, you idiot!" Sven yelled, running to where Train was holding two A4 envelopes that were as expensive as Train said. "This paper isn't for selling, it's the test results for the entrance test. You better have passed, because someone else was killed last night!"

"Whoa, Sven, calm down," Train said, noticing how Sven began to turn slightly red. "You wouldn't want to kill a few of those brain cells you possess under that hat, huh?" Train smiled at his joke, as Sven tore open the top of his envelop. Unnoticed to both, Eve snuck into the room and grabbed a bowl, ready to make cereal, but eavesdropping at the same time.

"Good, I passed," Sven said, relieved, dropping his letter on the table and grabbing Train's. It was time to see if Plan B had worked.

"Lemme see!" Train said, jumping and snatching the letter out of Sven's hand, looking like a two year old toddler more than anything. "So...'Mr. Heartnet-', you hear that Sven? 'Mr Heartnet!' Anyway, I passed. Wait, I passed?" Train said, suddenly realising what the letter was saying. "I passed! I can be as smart as you and I know what that quadranic? quaddy? quad-"

"Quadratic," Eve muttered under her breath as she took a bite of cereal.

"I know what that quadtatic formula is. I bet you don't know that, Sven?" Train smiled, looking smug.

"Train..." Sven said, voice holding a warning tone. "According to Rinslett, you only got _one _question out of like, hundreds, correct, and that was on the _quadratic _formula you can't even say."

"Then...how did I pass? Did everyone else get everything wrong? What has Rinslett got to do with anything?" Train asked, unsurprised that he only got one question right.

"Rinslett hacked into the computer to change your results. And now we _owe _her half of our bounty," Sven replied.

"What?" Train said, letter slipping from his hand in shock.

"Don't look so horrified, Train," Rinslett grinned as she entered the house. "I'm helping you hunt this bounty, of course!"

_To be continued..._

**A/N: Unlike the rest of the stories in this collection, this chapter and the one after are linked – basically it is a 2 chapter one shot if that makes sense :D (if that's possible, which it probably isn't). I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and please review! I really appreciate it, because reviews make me smile every time I get one. :D :D**


	9. Black Cat goes to School Part 2

**Intro: Train, Sven and Rinslett head to the University of Wulkot to hunt down their bounty. But they've underestimated the cunning of their bounty.**

Train looked stunned, his mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish, and was, for once, silent. It took him about half a minute before he could finally find his voice.

"You're coming? Don't you need to pass the entrance exam too?" Train asked, his voice still slightly hoarse. Rinslett gave him a bright smile before wriggling her fingers and typing on an imaginary keyboard.

"If I hacked into the system to change _your _marks, how hard is it to change someone's name? It was part of the terms that I gave Sven when we met up," Rinslett replied, enjoying the expression on Sven's face.

"Am I coming too?" Eve asked, suddenly noticed. Eve had been sitting on the small, round dining table munching on her breakfast cereal and hearing every word of conversation, but sat there unnoticed. Now that she had raised her voice, she was met with the incredulous stares of three stunned adults.

"Eve, it's too dangerous!" Sven said, the same time that Train said, "No way Princess!" and Rinslett continued to stare. Eve let out a sigh and gave Rinslett a hopeful expression. Rinslett shook her head.

"As much as I would love to bring you along, as these two charming gentlemen have yelled, it's too dangerous. Anyway, you're a little young for uni, don't you think? Or I could bring you along as my little sister..." Rinslett looked slightly cheeky as she said this, and Eve looked away, thinking that it may just be a teensy bit better if she stayed back. But it didn't mean she was happy about it.

"Fine, I'll stay here," Eve replied, turning back to her cereal and crunching monotonously.

"Alone?" Train answered back, sometimes forgetting that the Princess could defend herself. He couldn't help it when he got protective.

Eve didn't reply as she continued munching her cereal in silence. Sven, Train and Rinslett looked at each other before Sven spoke up.

"It might be a good time to leave," Sven said, as he thought about the satisfaction he would feel when he caught Carter Rueson.

* * *

"Oh yeah! Room buddy!" Train yelled as Sven opened the door to their dorm room. It was a small square room with a door leading to the bathroom on the left, and sliding doors on the right for their clothing. The comfy single beds were located in the centre of the room, with a small bedside table in the middle just below a medium sized window. This simple room was completed by a long, wooden study table that leaned against the left wall. Overall, Train and Sven had faced accommodation a lot worse when they were sweeping for bounty.

"Yeah. Room buddy," Sven replied glumly. "Of all the university boarders, I end up in a room with you."

"Nothing wrong with that," Train grinned, as he walked into the room and pulled open the curtains to allow light into the room. "Nothing wrong with that."

Sven walked in and closed the door behind him, pulling in his attaché briefcase in one hand, and a suitcase filled with essentials on the other. He let out another grumble at the fact that smoking wasn't allowed in the dorms, because he would need every cigarette he could get if he was staying in a room with a hyperactive Train. Sometimes he even wondered why he was a Sweeper with Train.

"So, what's the plan? We don't have any official classes until next week, but I don't think you'll be coming anyway," Sven said, sitting on the edge of his bed wondering what to do and thinking aloud.

"We'll catch the guy before a week is done," Train announced, leaving the window and flopping onto the bed on his back. "I bet he's here under a disguise, so it should be a piece of cake for me to recognise him."

"It better be," Sven muttered under his breath, as Train's grin widened.

"I can hear you, you know," Train said, enjoying the feeling of the bed on his back. It was nothing like the uncomfortable seats on the train they had taken to Wulkot.

"I heard."

"We should find Rinslett."

"We're not allowed in the ladies dorms, Train."

"I'll sneak in. Rinslett finds me charming. It'll be fine."

To this Sven had no comment. Sometimes, it was safer not to say anything, especially to such a statement.

* * *

Carter Rueson wanted to laugh. The nuts at the University of Wulkot were meant to be smart, but no one recognised him under his bleach blond hair, fake hair and a few facial implants. The university was his oyster to hunt, torture and kill, and it satisfied him to see the bounty they had set on his head. Two and a half million. Not bad for someone who had been dumped on the streets by his uncaring parents when he was ten. Not bad at all.

He had felt his excitement build up when he found that young Sweeper girl, Madison or something, lurking around the university at night holding a poster of him. When he had asked what she was doing, Madison had merely smiled and whispered towards him, "I'm a Sweeper. I'm looking for this bounty." She had pointed at the poster, and clearly didn't recognise him in the dark. Carter smiled at her, relishing the challenge. Finally, someone of worth was going after him. He was disappointed when he had managed to subdue Madison without much of a fight, although the look on her face when he had attacked was priceless. Terrorising her roommate and seeing his accomplishment on the news had been a lot more fun.

As he walked towards his next lecture, he saw something that caught his eye. It was a new student, Carter could tell because he had never seen her before, and there was a kind of glow? on her that reminded Carter of Madison. She wasn't tall, but she wore a purple wig and had a mischievous glow in her eyes. Carter was willing to miss a lecture if it meant meeting this beauty. Maybe she could even be his next victim. What fun.

"Hey, you're a newbie here, aren't you?" Carter smiled as she joined her on the bench she was sitting at, doing his best to look friendly and not like a psychotic killer.

"Who are you?" she said suspiciously, her fingers looking as if they were itching for something she normally had but wasn't there.

"Cameron Raymond," Carter said, introducing himself under his false identity. It wasn't as if he was going to introduce himself as Carter Rueson! This girl had the feel of a Sweeper as well.

"Oh," the girl replied, frowning, her face looking slightly more relaxed. "I'm Rinslett Walker. You look kind of familiar."

"Really?" Carter grinned, knowing that she must've seen his bounty poster. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sweet Rinslett."

* * *

"That's weird," Train muttered, as he walked slowly along the footpath with Sven, occasionally kicking a few piles of leaves away. Sven was several metres back, his eye patch in his hand as he squinted at their surroundings. It was late in the evening, and the only occupants of the university were the boarders or the odd teacher that had stayed behind to mark assignments.

"Why isn't she here?" Train asked again, walking around the lamp post in agitation. "You don't think she went after the bounty herself, do you Sven?"

"I hope not," Sven replied, glad for the comforting weight of the attaché case in his left hand. "That would be _so _Rinslett – join us on the hunt and run with the bounty. Such a thief."

"Well...she is a thief," Train said confused, as Sven shot him an annoyed glare. The night was getting darker, but Rinslett was usually a punctual person, and it concerned him that she was this late. "I really should've snuck into her room to check if she's okay."

"Shhhh..." Sven hissed suddenly, as he caught sight of a dark shadow. Train recognised Sven's posture, and his hand crept slowly towards Hades. The dark shadow that Sven saw turned out not to be one, but two people, one carrying the other in his arms. The shape of one of the shadows seemed familiar to Sven.

A second later, the shadows walked out into the open ground, revealing a tall bleach blond man carrying an unconscious girl in his arms. From this distance, Train could clearly tell it was Rinslett. How had this man gotten the drop on her in the first place?

Train gave Sven a significant look, and Sven nodded in understanding. Train was a master marksman, but he didn't want to risk shooting in case the man moved and he hit Rinslett instead. Sven pressed a button on the attaché case and a net came flying out, trapping the man and Rinslett within it.

"Carter Rueson, you are under arrest!" Sven yelled, as Train suddenly disappeared. Sven, however was shocked when Carter, instead of raising his hands in defeat, smiled.

"Catch me if you can," he smiled, before disappearing into the darkness, net and all.

"Train, where did he-" Sven's exclamation was cut off when he heard two loud shots from Hades, and Train flew out from the darkness landing heavily on his feet. Train was grimacing and rubbing a thin line that had been scratched onto his face.

"What happened?"

"He's got needles. They paralyse you. That's how he got Rins. But the speed...if I'm right then it's not looking good," Train replied, staring hard at the darkness. "I had to shoot the needles. How the hell is he so damn fast?"

Sven covered his normal eye and focused his other eye on the darkness. "Train, he's coming at 2 o' clock in six seconds. He'll try and jab you."

"Gotcha!" Train grinned. He pointed Hades up towards the lamppost, counted for three seconds, then fired. It was a shot that had taken Train ages to learn, one that he loved watching Saya use. The reflect shot bounced against a metal bench and another lamppost before firing towards Train's target. It hit Carter squarely in the leg, who tumbled down onto the ground, Rinslett and the net Sven had fired at him nowhere to be seen.

"Not so fast are you?" Train said, just before Carter disappeared into a blur, blood flying.

"Train! You jinxed us!" Sven hissed. "On my left, oh-!"

A syringe had flown out of nowhere, Sven barely dodging, and only because he knew where the syringe was coming from. Their bounty was standing ten metres from them, blood flowing from where Train shot him.

"No fancy bullets, unfortunately," Train said offside towards Sven. He raised Hades again, this time looking at the brick wall of a building and wondering if it could handle a bullet being shot at it.

"More Sweepers, eh?" Carter said, walking forward as if he felt no pain. "You know Rinslett? She's a feisty one. And that other girl I killed – also a Sweeper, just a careless one. Let me add you to my kills!"

"Black claw!" Train yelled, disappearing with the bang of several shots. Sven pressed another button on the attaché case, this time a gun appeared, and Sven fired it at another, unfortunate lamppost. The lamppost fell as Train attacked Carter, falling on top of them and knocking Carter out. Train was conscious, but stuck, and Sven was very aware of the dark glare he was getting from Train.

"You could've knocked me out! I could've been killed!" Train complained, kicking their bounty in the head as he struggled to get out.

"You'll survive," Sven muttered as he helped pull Train out, before surveying their bounty. "Out cold."

"That's cold," Train sniffed. "'You'll survive'. You overestimate my survival skills."

"I'm pretty sure I don't. Now, I'll get him and get our bounty reward, and you go look for Rinslett," Sven ordered, putting on his eye patch. However, Sven paused for a second as if he were considering something. "What did you mean about hoping you were wrong about his speed?"

"Yeah, yeah," Train muttered, as he walked into the trees, before stopping and realising that Sven had asked him a question. "Oh...about the speed...I thought it was Tao."

"Tao?" Sven asked, shocked. Train nodded, throwing a dirty look at their bounty that was lying on the ground.

"Yeah. I bet he's one of the ones the Apostles found, and Chronos hadn't gotten around to hunting him. Don't worry about it."

Sven nodded uncertainly, before leaving. Train went further into the trees and didn't need to search very far before finding Rinslett, who was lying unconscious on the ground.

"Rins?" Train whispered, not sure what to do. Should he let her wake up on her own, or should he shake her awake or something? As he was deciding, Rinslett made his decision for him. She slapped him. Hard.

"OW! What was that for!" Train exclaimed. Rinslett blinked several times, stretching slowly, before looking at Train.

"Oh...sorry. I mistook you for _him_," Rinslett replied sleepily.

"Sorry? You nearly took my head off!" Train exclaimed, rubbing his face. "Have you got practice slapping or what?"

"Duh. Jenos needs to pay a bit more attention to me," Rinslett said, getting up. "So where's my bounty?"

Train groaned in exasperation. "I knew you would say that!"

**Okay, that's this longer story done! I hope it's as good as my other stories, because personally this feels different to me than my other stories. Maybe because it's longer. Anyway, tell me what you think with some reviews, and if there are any characters that you would like me to write about, tell me, because there will always be the odd character you'll never consider writing about until its suggested :D. And once again, a big thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far :D :D**


	10. An Eraser and a Thief : Take 2

**Intro: Jenos's and Rinslett's first date was quite interesting. What happens second time around? **

Jenos took a deep breath as he waited for Rinslett at the base of the steps that led towards a cinema. After learning, the painful way, that Rinslett _didn't _like him to be late one bit, Jenos made sure that he had no last minute missions to do for Sephira before their second date. This time, he really was going to win Rinslett Walker's heart. How could he not, for he had learnt all these valuable lessons about her, right?

Jenos sighed, looking at his watch and remembering the reasons why he hated to be early. The impatient wait. The unnoticed tappying of his shoes as he waited for the seconds to count down. Jenos was five minutes early, but as a man of action, waiting wasn't in his vocabulary.

"Suck it up," Jenos hissed to himself. "Rinslett. Rinslett. Remember...Rinslett."

For about ten seconds, Jenos could forget his impatience. Then it came back, Jenos beginning to climb the steps and then pace around the foyer of the cinema as several patrons looked nervously at him. In his hand he clutched a small red bag that held a wrapped present that he had brought specially for Rinslett. This time, Jenos would not give his beautiful Rinslett _any _excuse to slap him.

Jenos continued his pacing for several minutes, as Rinslett arrived right on time, this time wearing a long burgundy wig and starting at Jenos with a slight smile on her lips. She stood at the foyer of the cinema and watched, her smile growing even bigger as Jenos continued to pace, clearly not noticing her arrival.

It was only when Jenos crashed heavily into a young, now crying young girl that he realised that Rinslett was standing in front of him, hands on her hips. And as he turned his eyes apprehensively down towards his silver watch to find out _exactly _how long he had paced before noticing Rinslett, she laughed.

"For your information, Jenos, I've been standing here for seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds before you crashed into a young, innocent child and realised that I'm here," Rinslett said, noticing the sudden, and very badly hidden panic on Jenos's face. Good. This meant, that despite how play boyish he acted, Jenos really did care about trying to improve their relationship.

"Oh," Jenos giggled nervously. A short, but furious mother came storming towards him, face red, a crying girl in her arms. Jenos looked down at the girl for a second before recognising her as the child he had crashed into earlier, before the mother slapped him.

"How _dare _you make my girl burst into tears! And _you_-" the furious mother suddenly pointed at Rinslett, who looked nothing more than stunned – "how _dare_ you stand and _laugh _as my child cried. You should've slapped him, or reprimanded your husband." With a contemptuous flick of her hair, the angry mother stormed away, the child in her arms laughing. Jenos was standing at the exact spot where the mother had slapped him, his hand on his cheek. Rinslett was standing similarly frozen, her face frozen as her mouth gaped.

"_Husband?_" Rinslett choked. "Husband." Rinslett was silent for several seconds before she approached the still-frozen Jenos and pulled his hand away from his cheek. "No one has the right but me to slap you, Jenos Hazard."

"I agree," Jenos gasped, still in the hold of shock. "We should get going, my-" Jenos stopped as one of his self-made rules of not-to-dos-in-a-date-with-Rinslett came to mind. Never, ever, call Rinslett _my _or else his cheek would once again meet the palm of a fire-breathing woman. "I mean, we have a movie to watch, Rins."

Rinslett looked at Jenos with satisfaction, noticing Jenos correcting himself. It was a shame not to slap him, but Rinslett could clearly see the effort he made not to antagonise her. And with angry mother slapping him, it probably turned Jenos off flirting with other women for at least, the next ten minutes anyway.

The same thoughts ran though Jenos's mind as he led Rinslett up the stairs towards the theatre, showing an usher his tickets. Rule number two on the rules of not-to-dos-in-a-date-with-Rinslett was no flirting with other women when Rinslett was in a ten metre radius. He couldn't stop flirting, but it was fine to do it a little...as long as Rins didn't see a thing, of course.

As they entered the darkness of the cinema, where the advertisements had already begun playing, they both took advantage of the darkness to smile at each other. Then sitting down, they watched the movie in silence, with Jenos not flirting once with another woman, with Rinslett not needing to slap Jenos every five minutes. Their hands were intertwined as they watched the movie play, enjoying every splatter of blood dropped in the movie, and every scream that echoed.

* * *

As Rinslett and Jenos left the cinema, Jenos couldn't help feeling extremely cheerful. This second date was nothing like the first. Firstly, not only had Rinslett _not_ raged fire at every little thing he did, he didn't get slapped by her once, although that angry mother earlier had put a damper on things. Jenos remembered the red bag in his hand, and stopping Rinslett, gave it to her.

"I thought, to end this date well, that I get you a gift, dear Rins. With all the drama earlier, I forgot but..." Jenos's voice trailed off nervously. As experienced as he was with woman, due to years of charming and flirting, Rinslett was different. His old, well honed tricks wouldn't work on her. Maybe that was why she was special. She wasn't as helpless or as easily charmed as anyone else that he had met, and just seeing Rinslett smile made Jenos know that she was the one for him.

"Ah...thank you, Jenos," Rinslett smiled. She looked suspiciously in the bag before plunging her hand in. As silly and unserious as Jenos could get, she still had to remember that he was a Time Guardian, and could've put a booby trap in the bag – as a joke. Rinslett grinned a second later when she pulled out a fine, silver string from the bag and gave it to Jenos.

"I thought so..." Rinslett sighed. She saw the look of approval on Jenos's face, and plunged her hand into the bag to pull out a small red box. Opening it, Rinslett found the ugliest phone that she had ever seen. It was black, and at least _twice _as big as her current phone. She frowned at Jenos, getting herself ready to give that smooth face of his a smack.

"It's no ordinary phone. If Sephira found out I gave you this...let's just say that if you're in a bit of strife, because that phone has a _classified _number, you'll call and I can come charging in, anytime, mid mission. You can find me anytime, and it's _way _more reliable than my other number." Jenos looked smug, pleased with the knowledge that there would always be a helping hand for Rinslett. He knew Naizer wouldn't mind helping her either.

"Uh huh. You gave me...a phone, just in case _I _needed to be rescued by _you_? I don't want to be your damsel in distress," Rinslett said, although, deep down, she thought it would be interesting to see how Jenos would cope with a situation that she needed rescuing from. It wouldn't hurt to deflate his oversized ego a little.

Jenos started to look nervous after Rinslett's lack of enthusiasm over his gift. He really wanted to make it past this date without getting slapped by Rinslett, once. Women were so unpredictable.

"Use it for emergencies only. But otherwise...you'll find it does things that no _normal _mobile can do. You'll be pleased later, my Rins." Jenos didn't seem to realise that he had just broken one of his rules of not-to-dos-in-a-date-with-Rinslett, and leant forward and kissed Rinslett on the lips.

For a second, Rinslett was taken by surprise and kissed him back, before her brain registered what was happening. Her hand seemed to swing forward of its own volition, and slammed into Jenos's face. Jenos stepped back from the force of the blow and sighed.

"Damn, not only did I break one of my rules of not-to-dos-in-a-date-with-Rinslett, but she slapped me!" Jenos stomped his foot in anger. Rinslett looked on with amusement.

"'Rules of not-to-dos-in-a-date-with-Rinslett'? That's calling me 'my Rins', right?" Rinslett grinned, and grabbed Jenos's face. "I was going to kiss you anyway. But you got there first."

Rinslett continued what Jenos had started, and when they finally parted, she grinned evilly at him.

"Don't even think about not getting slapped during a date. Because, that's just what I do," Rinslett smirked, as Jenos groaned, foreseeing the pain that his right cheek was going to face as long as he stayed with Rinslett.

**Sorry for the late update, but I've been really busy with work experience and everything, but I hope you've still enjoyed this chapter :D. Please feel free to express your opinions with a review – nothing would make me happier :D**


	11. The Birthday Cat

**Intro: Train's birthday is approaching, and it's up to Eve and Leon to get him a pressie and cheer him up.**

As Eve plopped into a chair, setting her breakfast on the table, she was struck by how _agitated _Train seemed this morning. He had earlier been hovering around the fridge, repeatedly opening and closing the door without taking anything out, and had only stopped when Eve had grabbed the milk for her cereal. Train had then stared at the fridge for several seconds, before opening the door one last time and grabbing a bottle of the milk he usually binged on.

Eve watched Train as she munched on her cereal. Train drank the milk with none of the usual excitement he had, and his eyes looked blank. When he finally finished it, he sunk back into the couch that he was sitting in and sighed, staring at the ceiling. Finally, Eve couldn't hold it back any longer.

"Are you alright, Train?" Eve asked, knowing perfectly well that something was bugging Train.

"Huh? Princess? " Train exclaimed, surprised. He looked at Eve sitting on the table, before sinking back into the sofa. "I'm fine."

It was an uncharacteristically short response from Train, and hiding her concern, Eve left her cereal bowl in the sink, before climbing up the stairs to the bathroom, where Sven was carefully styling his hair. Why Sven bothered when he was going to put a hat on top of that hair Eve didn't know, but after seeing Sven's reaction after Train had asked the same thing, Eve thought it wise not to ask again.

"Sven?" Eve asked hesitantly as Sven slipped his eye patch on. "Why do you think Train is...moping?"

"Moping?" Sven frowned, as he grabbed his perfectly tailored hat and rest it gently on his head. "What's the date?"

"The date?" Eve replied curiously. "April 12."

"That explains it!" Sven said. "It's his birthday tomorrow. April 13th."

"The why would he be moping? I would've expected Train to be overly hyper and bouncy, not sinking into the sofa with a blank expression."

"I don't know. Maybe he celebrated one of his birthdays with Saya and he remembered how happy it was? Except I'm pretty sure he got over Saya once we beat Creed. Train's still a mystery to me, even now."

Sven looked at Eve, his forehead wrinkling slightly in thought. "Maybe you could do something to cheer him up."

Eve stared back at Sven for several seconds before smiling. "I know exactly what to do."

* * *

"So...who are we shopping for, again?" Leon asked, as he held Eve's hand. They were walking down the popular Sapidor Shopping Centre in search for not only a present for Train, but for party _stuff_ that would be used in a surprise party to celebrate Train's birthday.

"Train. You know – the Black Cat," Eve said as she nodded, looking around left and right for _anything _that would seem suitable for Train as a present. But what? That was the hard part.

"I know him alright," Leon muttered. "He doesn't seem to like me."

Eve looked sharply at Leon, before smiling. "Then you must not know him very well. If he likes insulting you or calling you names and acts like a tennis ball around you, secretly he approves. You know how he is."

Leon nodded silently, not really taking in much of what Eve was saying, but was wondering how Train would treat someone he _didn't _like if he loved annoying people he did like.

"Look at Creed," Eve answered to Leon's unspoken question. "Train never stopped coming at him."

"Ah...I see," Leon said, nodding knowledgeably to try and look better in front of Eve, even though he knew it probably wouldn't change her thoughts about him. But there was no stopping the male hormones that ran through his veins. And it was the hormones that would make Leon blurt out a statement he knew he would regret later.

"Would it be a good idea if we competed to see who can get Train the best presents?" Leon asked, his competitive spirit coming out. For once, he wanted to beat Eve at something. He wanted to prove that he was worthy of her, because at that moment, all Leon could feel was that Eve was a bright, shining beacon, and he was just Leon, Leon who could control the air but once wanted to put out the light that was Eve. Even after all those months of knowing her, deep down, he never forgave himself for his arrogance and trying to kill Eve. He just wanted to feel as if he deserved her.

Eve looked at him sharply and smiled. "And I'll kick your ass too. I won't even need my hammer either." Leon sighed – what Eve had just said further dug into his doubts.

"Leon? Not you too," Eve groaned, pulling him to a bench. "Train's already depressed because of something, and you seem to be, too. You don't like April the 12th either or something?"

"I'm not right for you." It was a soft whisper, and Leon was looking at the floor, but Eve heard. "I'm a killer. I wanted to kill you. But I'm no match. I..."

"You doubt yourself," Eve realised, saying it aloud, and withholding a sigh. Leon reminded Eve of Train sometimes, especially when they were depressed. Men really could do the whole I-look-like-a-deflated-balloon thing and just fall apart on you. No matter what powers or abilities you had, all men seemed to fall apart sometime.

"If I didn't believe that you had changed, would I be here?" Eve stated, making Leon look at her. "Would I?"

Leon shook his head. "I-"

"You have no reason for doubts. Today is meant to be fun."

Leon finally cracked a smile. "I'm pathetic – but I get your point. Let's have fun." Leon stood up, but Eve stopped him. "Do you _really _get my point? I like you, Leon. It's fun practicing with you in the morning and having an intellectual equal – there's no one else I would turn to."

Eve and Leon stood face to face, both very aware that their faces were turning a deep red. Leon put one hand on his burning cheek and looked away nervously, feeling the unusual tension in the air.

"Uh...let's go," Leon stuttered, dragging Eve along, who had also been caught by surprise by the burning feeling she had felt on her cheeks, and the sudden need just to be with Leon.

"We have a black-feeling cat back at home that needs cheering up," Eve said with more confidence than she actually had.

"I have an idea. But we won't find it in the shopping centre."

Eve and Leon disappeared from the shopping centre, a new bounce appearing in their steps as they bumped into a familiar old friend.

* * *

The morning of the 13th was sunny, and cloud free, and it was down to Eve to distract –or take out - Train long enough to get her surprise ready. Train was once again sunk deep into the sofa, but Eve noticed something more accepting about the way he sat. Eve approached him, putting on her poker face.

"Train," Eve said, standing in front of him. As Train looked back at her, he grabbed the milk bottle in her hand and popped the lid, not noticing that the lid had been pre-opened earlier.

"Thanks, Princess," Train said gratefully, smiling as he drank the milk, before that smile turned to horror as he faced Eve. "What the hell did you put in here? Is this...expired milk?" Train exclaimed, not wanting to, for like the hundredth time, to end up with diarrhoea because in his rush, he never read milk bottles for the expiry date. But as he checked it, he was sure that the milk wasn't going to expire until next week.

Train tried to stand, but found himself feeling lethargic. "You...argh...sleeping pills..." With that, Train drifted off and began snoring, the snores echoing around the room. Eve patted his head, noting how he had bags under his eyes. That was even weirder. Train would never pass off an opportunity to sleep... unless he had been up all night thinking. Eve was glad she had chosen sleeping pills over a trip to the supermarket for milk. By the time she dragged Train out of there, it would probably be evening.

"All clear!" Eve announced, as the front door smashed open. Entering were Leon, who looked dishevelled, Sven, who looked amused at the sight of Train snoring away on the sofa, Rinslett, who even brought her whip along, and finally, a squealing and bouncing Kyoko, who had bumped into Eve when they were just about to leave the Sapidor shopping centre. "Decorate the present out the back, and get this place set up for the party!"

It was only after an hour after Train had drunk the 'sleepy milk' as Sven had termed it, before he woke up, and had to silently admit that he was feeling better. He had been up all night, thinking about things that shouldn't be thought, remembering things he thought he never would. It had all come the moment he realised that his birthday was coming, and the memories attached to it had been triggered.

As he got up, he was suddenly aware that the living room, was a vibrant yellow, and covered with streamers and confetti. There was a massive banner above the fireplace that read "Happy Birthday Train." On it were crudely cute pictures of black cats, and as Train slowly turned around, he was startled by a very loud "Happy Birthday" that was loud enough to shake the bell on his collar.

"Gah!" Train said, clutching his heart in shock, and sliding off the sofa onto the floor. "Ouch! Don't scare me like that!"

After Train had recovered slightly, his sharp eyes picked out the people in the room. Eve. Who looked _way _too smug. Leon. Who just looked worried. Sven. Rinslett. And...Kyoko?

"Kuro-samaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Kyoko yelled out in excitement. "When I found out that today was your birthday, I just _had _to come! My cat pictures are awesome, aren't they, Train?"

"They're lovely Kyoko," Train said, eager to avoid crushing his ribs with the force of Kyoko's hugs. He then looked around the room and gave Eve his most evil glare.

"You," Train stated, standing with his hands on his hips. Rinslett and Sven were clearly holding back laughter as they began to shake. "You made the milk sleepy...and gave me a heart attack."

Train then shocked everyone by grabbing Eve in a massive bear hug. "Thanks! The party is awesome!" Train yelled out, eyes glittering like the Train of old.

"Uh...you can put me down now," Eve said, when Train continued to hug her, but now looked more like a carry.

"Sorry," Train apologised, looking sheepish. "I had a lot on my mind."

Eve and Leon then both shared identical, evil expressions. "Then it's time to see your present."

Eve dragged Train along to the backyard as he remembered what Eve had gotten him once. A dried fish. Hopefully she hadn't brought him an entire fish pond. Those would be poor fishies, Train thought.

But in the garden wasn't a fish pond. It was a cow, a cow with a red ribbon tied around her waist, and cheeky black eyes.

"A...cow?" Train asked. "Are you serious?"

Leon began to look worried as Eve grinned. "Milk. You milk the cow. Fresh, fresh milk, and you'll never need to go to the supermarket again!"

Train approached the cow slowly, as if he were in a daze. Unknown to him, Rinslett had brought along Sven and Kyoko to the courtyard to watch the action that Rinslett hoped would happen. Train sank down onto his knees and looked puzzled. "How the hell do I get the milk out?" he yelled, the cow suddenly looking very cheeky as she stared at Train. "How-argh!"

The cow had suddenly given Train a massive kick which made him slide along the courtyard grass, as everyone laughed. Eve then bent down and helped him up, as she brought along a bucket and approached the cow.

"Train – this is how you milk a cow." Eve bent down, and the cow obligingly let her reach out, and squeeze out some milk. When Eve re-emerged, looking triumphant, Train gave her a look and muttered, "For all you know, she told that cow to kick me."

Train didn't realise how close to the truth he was as everyone burst out into laughter after that statement, Leon giving Eve a quick kiss on the cheek.

**Hopefully you've enjoyed this story as well – I couldn't resist getting Train a cow! As for updating... I'm going overseas very soon and probably won't get to update at all in January. So I'll try and type as much as I can before that. As usual, don't own Black Cat blah blah, and feel free to drop in a comment by reviewing. :D. Makes me happy.**


	12. The New No X

**Intro: Before becoming the new No. X, Xiao Li lived a life of intrigue and danger as a freelance espionage agent. But when he catches the eye of Chronos, everything changes.**

Xiao strolled easily down the footpath, his new disguise staring back at him from the glass walls of some local shops. He had taken the appearance of an actor he had seen on the cover of one of those horrendously expensive magazines that only the extremely rich upper class would even consider buying. Personally, he couldn't see anything special in the cropped blond hair and the pale skin of the actor, but as long as it would serve his purpose, Xiao kept the disguise.

Xiao turned at the corner of a dark alley that led to one of the most elite nightclubs in Elsida City, the Nightshade, and gave his fake hair one last ruffle before finding the entrance to the nightclub and walking straight in. He ignored the loud squawks of protest from several make-up plastered ladies who had been crammed at the entrance, begging for entrance into the nightclub. Xiao had bigger worries tonight.

Earlier that week, Xiao had been anonymously approached by a mysterious pair who introduced themselves as thieves wanting to know the exact location of a chest of jewellery for one night. Xiao was to find the woman who owned the jewellery, a certain Chantelle Ridges who happened to enjoy visiting the Nightshade nightclub, and not only squeeze out the location of the jewellery from her, but to also find out about every security measure there was guarding it. There was an unwelcome catch though - Xiao had been given a week to do this, and was not permitted to break into the Ridges mansion to find information, as he normally would've done. This meant that Xiao was reliant on his sources to find information, and on the fourth night after getting the task, Xiao had found out enough about Chantelle to question her directly. The disguise he was wearing was a modified version of the actor that she adored so much, which Xiao hoped would make Chantelle open up a bit more. And if there was something that Xiao loved, it was a challenge. It was almost too easy finding out the information that he needed nowadays, and this seemed like the perfect challenge that he needed to snap himself out of boredom.

As Xiao scanned the room for Chantelle, another figure caught his eye and felt vaguely familiar. It was a tall woman who sat at the very shadows of the nightclub, not dancing to the music but eying her surroundings with a keen eye. Whoever she was, Xiao felt, he had seen her before, and there was something suspicious about her, from the odd tattoo that was etched onto her forehead, to the extremely weird suit that she wore that made it look as if she had dropped in from a day of cosplaying. Xiao made a mental note of her location, before finally seeing Chantelle, sitting alone at table eight, just as Xiao had observed she did every night.

Xiao approached table eight, and sat uninvited in the stool opposite Chantelle. Her face was etched with annoyance, until she took a closer look at Xiao and realised who he looked like.

"It...can't be,"Chantelle whispered, her eyes wide with adoration. Xiao was mentally slapping himself – the sources he had asked had said that Chantelle had been a tough nut to crack, but at the moment, she seemed to be melting at his feet in a pile of compliance without Xiao even trying. Xiao had been so looking forward to a challenge.

"But...of course it is," Xiao smiled, every instinct of his feeling like a complete idiot, but with years of disguises also came experience in controlling his facial expressions. While internally, Xiao would rather be bungee jumping off a bridge, externally, Xiao looked like a polite gentleman more than pleased to make an acquaintance with such a respectable young woman. "Rumour has spread abroad. The lovely Chantelle Ridges, the owner of a pretty chest of jewellery, would like to meet the charming actor that sitting in front of you right now? No _decent _man would reject your offer."

Xiao continued to smile as thoughts of what he would _really _like to do to get information sprung to his mind. How he would enjoy defusing those pitiful alarm systems that really, wouldn't keep the _true_ threats out. Or how he would rather use his weapon to slice and threaten to get answers out. Flirting was not how Xiao _ever _expected to get information. Whoever had hired him had clearly wanted to see _if _he could, and that was what worried him.

Chantelle remained looking wide-eyed at Xiao as he continued thinking. "Those rumours...I'm so glad that you are here. But I don't know anything about a chest of jewellery that I own. Jolly, if I did, I would be wearing right now and looking as pretty as everyone else." Chantelle battered her eyelashes at Xiao, and gave him a smile that looked as false as the nails she wore.

"But I heard...it was the talk of town...Chantelle's chest of jewellery..." Xiao let his voice drift off, as once again, he longed to do things in a direct way. But direct would never work on shallow, beauty obsessed ladies like Chantelle. Well, pain would. But Xiao wasn't going to be _that _direct.

"Really?" Chantelle said, her voice etched with surprise Xiao knew wasn't faked. "But..."

Xiao gave Chantelle his most dazzling expression, hoping to get the right words out of her mouth. Instead, her face starting to get annoyed again, she asked, "I hadn't heard anything about rumours. Is this a lame pick-up line, or what?"

Xiao's smile was frozen. Maybe Chantelle wasn't as easy as he thought earlier. But what really made Xiao concerned was the surprise he heard when he asked about the chest. Chantelle was meant to be the owner but had yet known nothing about it. Xiao composed himself, before making another attempt.

"I don't do lame pick-up lines. It's a shame, I really believed all those beautiful young ladies when they told me about the jewellery. I just wanted to see them on you..." Xiao could see Chantelle cracking as the thoughts were whizzing around her brain. But as he mentioned those 'beautiful young ladies', a line he knew would provoke her, Chantelle's face turned into a mask of anger.

"Them! Those witches! They set me up...I...please don't think badly of me," Chantelle murmured, pulling Xiao closer. "I don't have a chest...but maybe what they meant was the box of heirlooms that I have, resting in my room. I know it should be in a bank vault or something, but I like it with me!"

Xiao was relieved to hear this confession, but there was something about Chantelle's hysteria that made him suspicious. Something in her tone wasn't right. Holding back a frown, Xiao proceeded to ask further questions. If his hunch was right, Xiao would've sold away his dignity for nothing. How his associates would laugh if they heard what he was doing tonight!

"What's in the box?" Xiao probed, leaning further in. Silently, he crossed his fingers. It would be nice to have some luck after how things had gone spiralling out of plan during tonight's questioning.

"In the box?" Chantelle looked down at the table, biting her lip, before bursting into tears. "I'm sorry! You seemed so interested in me...I wanted to impress you! I just want you!"

Chantelle collapsed onto the table, her shoulders heaving as the tears poured onto the table. Xiao was left sitting awkwardly on the edge of a wooden stool, with a crying woman in front of him and no idea on what to do. Years of practice charming and getting answers out of people did not help Xiao tonight. Xiao patted Chantelle on the back, feeling out of place and wondering if he was imagining the feeling of a hundred eyes boring a tunnel into his back.

"Are you bothering the lady?" a voice asked out of the darkness, stepping forward to reveal the woman that Xiao had saw earlier in the night and had caught his attention. Her eyes were icy, and in them Xiao could feel the power of her burning glare. So he hadn't been imagining the feeling on his back then...this night had gone from bad to worse. Or, as Xiao was fond of saying, grabbed from the bank into the dungeon. Where you would end up if something went wrong.

"No..." Xiao said, his usual control slipping. Chantelle slipped her head up, looked sadly at Xiao, before whispering, rather unwillingly, "Yes. He's bothering me." Chantelle then collapsed and resumed crying on the table, as the Icy-eyed woman dumped a small bag on the table before grabbing Xiao's wrist with an iron hold that he didn't even want to try breaking. This woman was dangerous. Whoever she was.

Icy-eyes took Xiao to the very back of the Nightshade, and into a small, bright room where another man, dressed similarly to Icy-eyes, sat waiting, holding an expression of curiosity. The moment that the door snapped shut, Icy-eyes lost her cold, ferocious expression to one that was more apologetic. She let go of Xiao's wrist and gestured to one of the seats in the room, in which he sat in, prepared to attack to get out of here if necessary.

"I'm sorry about all the drama, but we didn't want you to cause a fuss. I simply wanted to have a chat. I'm Sephiria, and this here is Belze." Belze nodded, not taking his eyes from Sephiria. "You may be wondering what this is all about...for your information, Belze and I were the so-called 'thieves' that had hired you to tell us information about Chantelle Ridges chest of jewellery, which you had figured doesn't exist."

Xiao was too stunned to answer back. He wanted this to be over, he wanted this to be a very bad dream that his brain had come up with. But Xiao banished those childlike feelings. He hadn't survived all these years by moping. He had to stand and take direct action to whatever situation he was placed in. Except the sight of a long sword swinging on Sephiria's hip, and a spear in Belze's hand made attack out of the question.

"This was our final test. We wanted to see if you could successfully question a suspect who wasn't under physical duress. You are exceptionally talented when it comes to getting information out by force, but this was something new that we had to test you for."

"How long have you been watching me? Hiring me for reconnaissance?" Xiao asked, his curiosity getting over his fear.

"Over a year. You are extremely talented, and we need more people like you," Sephiria said calmly, but there was a light in her eyes that was not to be messed with.

"Who is the 'we' that you keep referring to?"

Sephiria remained quiet as she looked back at Belze, seeking confirmation, who nodded. She turned back to Xiao, her face as serious as ever.

"From this point on, if you decline our offer, you are bound not to reveal anything said in this conversation. If you are found to have, the penalty is death. I will see to it personally." Xiao was too taken aback to respond as Sephiria continued. "I belong to an organisation, Chronos, who secretly controls 1/3rd of the world's economy. I am the commander of the most elite of Erasers that work for Chronos, the Time Guardians. You may or may not have heard of us. After watching your skills at spying, and especially how adept you are with your weapon, at interrogating and erasing, I am offering you a spot as one of the Time Guardians, as our No. X. You will face many tests and trials before you officially get the position, but if there is one I want, it is you, Xiao Li."

Xiao was silent. If he accepted, he would be a spy- and a killer, or _Eraser _as Sephiria had termed it, for an organisation he knew next to nothing about. True, he did that often and had no feelings about it. But to tie himself like that to an organisation he knew almost nothing about...

"I know nothing about Chronos. I accept that in the past year that I have acted for Chronos unintentionally, but I know nothing. I won't help those that seek to ruin this world further than it already is." Xiao knew that this could be a dangerous thing to ask, but he had to know.

"A good question, because once you join Chronos you cannot leave." Xiao noticed that Sephiria's expression slipped for a second, and that made Xiao believe that not only did someone leave, but they got out of Chronos alive. This gave Xiao the resolve to continue listening to Sephiria. "It is Chronos that is holding the world together. We secretly work to keep the economies flowing, to prevent further global crises. If you accept, I will tell you everything you need to know about Chronos. Will you come with me, Xiao Li?"

Xiao remained silent, but what he knew was that he needed a true purpose in life. Sephiria's offer would give him that purpose and allow him to do what he excelled at. Xiao stood up without hesitation, and looked Sephiria squarely in the eye, before quickly pulling off his disguise and revealing his true appearance.

"I will come."

**Well...to Mew300, here's a story with No. X in it. I've tried my best to try and copy Xiao's personality from the manga, but there wasn't much to go on about. Hopefully you've enjoyed this chapter :D. And if you have a character you'll love to see in a short story, feel free to ask. I'll try my best to write one, no matter how long it takes, once I get an idea ;D. And for anything else, comments or whatever, feel free to review. :D :D **


	13. Blood and Fire

**Intro: As Charden gets into position for the perfect kill, who should turn up but Kyoko?**

Charden sat down easily onto the plastic chair, covered by a faded umbrella but giving him a perfectly clear view of the Champagne City Mobile Corporation building where he knew one of the Chronos elders, Willzark was working in at the moment. After earlier hearing a rumour that Willzark used the phone company as a cover for other Chronos missions, Charden had come daily to stake the location out. Willzark had no clear pattern of movement – clearly he was paranoid of being attacked – but Charden had still figured out that he would leave the building before 5 pm and be driven away in a missile proof limousine. That left Willzark vulnerable for several seconds, more than long enough for Charden to kill him and give Chronos a massive blow.

Sighing, Charden looked down at his watch. It was still only a quarter past four, and it was still too early to sneak into the building to attack. Standing up, Charden decided that he might as well buy a coffee from the coffee shop whose table he was borrowing, amidst dirty expressions from other customers.

Sipping his cup of coffee, Charden could feel the nerves for the first time. Were the Elders simply cranky old men who yapped orders and couldn't fight back, or were they as ferocious in killing as the Numbers? But Charden was interrupted from his train of thoughts by a loud voice echoing down the street that sounded horribly familiar.

"Charden? Is it really you?" the voice squealed, as Kyoko came running down the street and came to a stop in front of the table that Charden was sitting at.

The only expression that Charden could wear was shock. Not in a million years did Charden except to bump into _Kyoko_, especially as he was preparing to assassinate the lead elder of Chronos.

"Kyoko? What are you _doing _here?" Charden asked, restraining his expression. His first desire was to drag Kyoko out of the way – it was extremely dangerous for her to be standing in front of a building owned by Chronos, even if Sephira had guaranteed her protection.

"Kyoko was getting a coffee!" Kyoko exclaimed, holding up her wallet. "But Kyoko never expected to run into Charden! What have you been doing? Why haven't you called me, or even texted me? Why-?"

"Kyoko, calm down," Charden said, raising his hand. "You really shouldn't be here-"

"You look even more handsome, Charden, even covered by your hat and those dashing sunnies! What shampoo and conditioner have you been using to make your hair that shiny? Are you on a special diet for your looks? And-"

"Kyoko!" Charden interrupted for the second time. "You really haven't changed," he said, a fond smile appearing on his face despite the seriousness of the situation, reminding him of another time when Kyoko had been distracted by his appearance.

"Awwww..." Kyoko replied, as a black cat crawling around her ankles suddenly jumped into Charden's arms.

"That has changed," Charden said, shocked, as the cat licked his face. "You didn't have a cat before, did you?"

"No," Kyoko chirped. "Watch this, Charden." Kyoko pulled out a metal bowl from her ever-present handbag as well as a bottle of milk. Charden opened his mouth to protest as Kyoko dragged him back down towards the table that he had been sitting at.

Pouring the milk into the bowl, Kyoko watched as the black cat happily lapped up the milk, while simultaneously watching Charden's every action, secretly wishing that he would take either his hat or sunglasses off. He was ever so dashing.

"Um, Kyoko, as fascinating as this is, I really am busy," Charden started to say, standing up, but Kyoko gave him one of _those _expressions – the ones that tear up your heart up with guilt as you contemplate leaving, but decide not to because of those feelings.

"Kyoko wants Charden to stay. Please? I haven't seen you in ages, and Kyoko wants to talk to Charden about meeting Kuro-sama in Tokyo!"

"You met the Black Cat in Tokyo?" Charden asked, interested and forgetting his need to get away from Kyoko. Time was ticking down towards Charden's planned time of assassination.

Kyoko nodded, a bright smile on her face. "It was so funny watching Kuro-sama eat sushi-"

The doors of the Champagne City Mobile Corporation building opened, and out walked Willzark surrounded by his bodyguards. Charden stood up suddenly, ignoring the stunned expression on Kyoko's face and ran as quickly as he could across the road, hand slipping towards the knife in his pocket to cut his palm open with, but by the time the blood was pouring out of his palm, ready for the kill, Willzark and his limousine had left.

"What was Charden doing?" Kyoko asked, standing in the middle of the road, interested, looking in the direction where Willzark's limousine had headed. "That was one weird looking old man in there. Charden was chasing after him, was he?"

From Charden's silence, Kyoko realised that this was the case. "Kyoko is sorry! Kyoko didn't mean to stop Charden from a meeting with weird-looking old man!"

Just the way that Kyoko described Willzark and the truth of her apology made Charden smile.

"Don't worry Kyoko. I can meet him tomorrow," he said, pulling Kyoko alongside him. "Why don't we have coffee together, and maybe get some cake. And you can tell me about Kuro-sama, will you?"

"Of course!" Kyoko smiled. Her expression turned thoughtful as she looked Charden in the eye. "Why were you so desperate to meet weird-looking old man?"

Charden kept smiling as he tried to figure out his response. Obviously, saying that he wanted to 'meet' the weird-looking old man in order to kill him wasn't the answer he wanted to tell Kyoko. He vaguely recalled that she had made a vow not to kill, and simply imagining her reaction if he told her the truth made him shudder. And Kyoko would probably manage to get him into a vow not to kill as well.

"Are you cold, Charden?"

"Oh, no. Charden wants to meet the weird-looking old man because they were..." Charden paused to think before smiling. "Because we were _dear _old mates and I would love to catch up."

As Kyoko fiddled for her bag to find her phone, eager to text Train about this latest discovery, Charden couldn't help smiling at how much he missed Kyoko's interesting, and naive company. It was worth Chronos corrupting the world for another day, anyway.

**I'm back! After not updating for two months...*shifty*. Well, I can say that I was overseas and the sudden entrance into senior school shocked me into not updating earlier. I've been so busy, and all I can say is that I'll update whenever I have time, but I'll try my best to update at least once a month. So thanks by sticking with this collection of stories, and please leave a review, pretty please. I tend to get finger happy with the keyboard when I get reviews. As a final note, this Charden chapter is for bluestargem and HypoVampire who have been bugging me for requests for Charden. I have delivered! :D **


	14. I and II Discuss

**Intro: Set after the battle with Creed, Sephira and Belze have a chat that turns out to be a bit more...**

Sephira closed her eyes, holding back a cringe as the injuries sustained in her battle with Creed shouted out in protest. True, they had healed quite a bit since her battle, but it still hurt to move and Sephira definitely wasn't in the state to follow up on her usual practice routine. Sephira remained lying on her back, eyes closed and absorbing the sounds around her before a gentle tap on the door snapped her from her reverie.

"Belze," Sephira smiled, her eyes still closed as she listened to the distinct footsteps of Belze.

"And once again, you caught me out," Belze said ruefully, standing respectfully beside Sephira's bed as she finally opened her eyes.

"No one catches me, Belze. No one," Sephira replied, her face darkening as she remembered the one person that had caught her out – Creed and his ability to heal himself with nanotechnology, at least until Train and Eve dealt with him. She, the Chronos Number One, had been a sword swing away from death until Train had come along. Sephira owed Train more than she imagined.

"I'm sorry, Sephira. I didn't mean to upset you," Belze replied. Dropping the sense of formality the two had as workmates, Belze sat on the edge of Sephira's hard bed, looking into her eyes with apology.

"No need for apology. I just need to get over my emotions. The Elders won't be pleased to hear that Creed left alive, but after all Heartnet did, I wasn't responsible for any decisions to do with Creed."

"Do you have a problem with that? I'm sure the Elders will appreciate the situation," Belze said, but sitting up and withholding another cringe, Sephira stared angrily at the wall.

"They won't," Sephira replied bitterly. "Especially since Train saved my life. They won't like that at all."

"The threat of Creed is gone. You shouldn't be so worried. You act tough and unbreakable, but I can see how fragile you are inside, Sephira. I'm not leaving you alone to the Elders if you're not feeling up to it."

"You see so much, Belze," Sephira smiled sadly. "You know me too well. All I could think of while battling Creed was whether by defeating him, I could stop others dying. But I couldn't even save myself."

Belze looked at Sephira and was startled to see a tear drop out of the corner of her eye. Belze had seen Sephira's pain when Belga had died, but the shock realisation that you were about to die could shake even the most fearless person. And here, Sephira, his boss and the woman he admired, was crumbling from this strain.

Belze wrapped his arm around Sephira, being careful not to be too rough.

"Sephira, I don't think you've ever given so much of yourself and yet still faced death in the eye. It hurts, but this shows you're still human. You may be an Eraser, but you're still human. And so am I. As Erasers for Chronos we have a tough job, but you've never failed me. You care about everyone, all of us, the Numbers. Who couldn't admire you for that?"

Sephira looked up into Belze's firm, warm eyes, and was struck with the realisation that Belze had always been there for her. It was something she had never noticed, preoccupied with the doings of Chronos. But without Belze's silent support as Chronos Number II, Sephira would never had been able to do her job as well as she could.

"I couldn't," Sephira smiled, feeling suddenly better. "I pay far too much attention to my problems rather than what I can do. Thanks for pointing me towards what I really should be looking at, Belze."

"You're welcome, Sephira." Belze looked into Sephira's eyes with an emotion that she couldn't identify – she had been stared at with fear, hatred, and anger and could identify those emotions within someone's eyes instantly, but the way Belze looked at her was something that she was unfamiliar with. It reminded her of the look Jenos gave her occasionally, but his expression way more playful, and more of a joke. The expression in Belze's eyes were serious, and filled with an emotion that made the heat rise within her, arousing sensations that Sephira had never felt before.

"Belze," Sephira said, the feeling of heat fading away slightly, but refusing to leave as Sephira stood up from the bed and walked towards the door. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," Belze replied, stepping forward and cupping Sephira's face tenderly in his hands. "I wouldn't really want to be looking after the Numbers without you there. That would be a chore."

"Definitely," Sephira grinned widely. Before her courage left her, before that weird, but warm, safe feeling left her body for good, Sephira leant forward and touched Belze's soft lips with her own.

Belze's lips replied with a passion, that warm feeling radiating from her lips throughout her entire body. Sephira had never felt so good, or as puzzled as she wondered how she had lived this long without ever feeling this _sensation _before. It was new, uncharted territory, and felt so good. Sephira pulled her lips back, taking a heavy breath as she looked with wonder at Belze.

"What...was...that?" Sephira asked, more to herself, as her hand fell instinctively for the safe, cold hilt of her sword Christ. Looking back at Belze, the warm feeling dissipating with all its impulsiveness, Sephira sighed.

"I've got some paperwork needing filling, but I feel so much better after..." Sephira left the sentence blank, unsure on how to finish it, before turning towards the exit of her gym.

"Enjoy yourself," Belze said, his eyes emotionless, hiding any feelings that they once held. Sephira nodded, and once Belze could no longer hear the sounds of her shoes clattering against the timber floor of the building, released the emotions that he had hid so desperately from Sephira.

"Sephira," Belze whispered. "That was love."

**Ah, a little clichéd, but that was always a pairing that interested me. I'm sorry for not being able to update as frequently, but I simply haven't the time to update regularly, so I hope this satisfies you :D. Reviews are very much appreciated, for a comment or for suggesting a character/pairing that you would like to see me do. Thanks for sticking by and reading this :D **


	15. April Fools Saga I : Train

**Intro: It's April Fools Day, and this time, the joke is on Train**

Train, in his sleep befuddled state, should have really realised that something was up the moment he rolled tiredly off his bed only for the loud quacking of _ducks?_ to vibrate around his room. And it wasn't just the quacking. Train had rolled off his bed, assuming that he would roll onto the soft, carpeted floor, but now some _squishy, pointy thingies _were digging into his back and head, and in his sleep deprived state, gave Train a headache worthy of a two litre carton of milk.

Trying to get into a comfortable position, Train rolled around further on the floor, only for every movement to be punctuated by even more quacking. And without realising where he was rolling (Train was still lacking the capacity to stand up at the moment), Train whacked his head on the wall, _hard_.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!" Train yelled, the sudden throb in his head finally giving Train the motivation to jump up off the floor. And while rubbing his head crankily, Train saw the mutilated state of his room.

Rubber ducks. The squishy type that you would find in a little kid's bathtub, and his room was full of them. It would explain the quacking, and the ow factor when rolling on them, but looking down at his favourite pyjamas, it would not explain why it was suddenly covered in a red liquid that smelt horribly like raspberry cordial.

Or would it? Picking up the nearest rubber duck, Train squeezed it, only to find that a fine line of that same red liquid squirted out and onto his pyjamas. His favourite ones. A _white_ pair of pyjamas covered in a cute little pattern of black cats, which, despite what he said to Sven or Eve, were his favourites. But that wasn't something Train would ever admit. He had a reputation (and his pride, and definitely his ego) to maintain.

"Uh...why has someone booby-trapped my bedroom with rubber ducks filled with cordial?" Train muttered aloud, tiredness still fogging his brain. "And-whoa!"

Train had slipped on the slippery floor, only to crash loudly into the wall, again. Except, hanging right in front of him, was his calendar (which someone had decorated with evil smileys). Train looked at the calendar, noting the crosses through March, which stopped abruptly at April. _April 1__st_.

"April 1st?" Train said aloud. "April 1st? April – APRIL FOOLS DAY!"

Train stopped his yelling, suddenly realising that it could be clearly heard downstairs, where the perpetrators to this _duck incident _(as Train thought of it), were probably waiting, laughing their heads off. This thought removed any trace of sleepiness from Train's still-throbbing head.

"Someone pulled an April Fools joke on _me_?" Train sank down into a duck-free section of the floor, his pride taking a hit. Someone. Had. Actually. Managed. To. Pull. An. April. Fools. Joke. On. Him. Train Heartnet.

"OH MY GOSH!" Train couldn't resist yelling. He pulled open the handle on his door, only for_ more_ hard, pointy objects to tumble on his head.

"GAH! SVEN I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU THIS INSTANT!" Train yelled furiously, wondering how he didn't see the string attached to his door, which was attached to a bucket full of – _empty milk cartons. _Empty ones. All that milk...

"What happened to the milk?" Train moaned. "It better not have been poured down the sink!"

In despair, Train tumbled down the stairs and ran straight to the fridge, just hoping that the milk was there. But the fridge was empty. Absolutely empty. Train could do nothing but stare at the fridge in horror, while at the dining table, Eve was curiously examining Train.

"So...he fell for it," Eve mused, noting the red splotches on Train's pyjamas and the empty milk carton crushed in his hand. Everything had gone according to plan, although Sven had been slightly annoyed at having to spend money buying over a hundred rubber ducks. At least the cordial had been free. It had been simple taking away the expired stuff away from the supermarket, and Eve hoped that Train hadn't drunk any of it. It _was _expired, after all.

"Ah, morning! I see everyone is up bright and early today!" Sven announced, going down the stairs with a clear bounce in his step. Train turned his attention away from the fridge and turned his head around towards Sven, in a very slow and threatening manner. Sven couldn't conceal his laughter the moment that he saw Train's expression.

"Your expression! It's priceless!" Sven cackled, something that Train had earlier believed was incapable for the green haired man. "Eve, have you taken a picture yet?"

Face neutral, Eve drew out a small digital camera from her pocket. "Yes Sven. Just as ordered."

At this stage, Train was ready to pounce. "You did what? Give me that camera!"

Train leapt towards Eve, hands outstretched, and crashed heavily into the dining table as Eve threw the camera to Sven. Train had one look between Eve and Sven's faces, and slammed his head on the table in defeat. He was _not _going to beg Sven for the camera, even though it was killing him to know that Sven had _that _photo of him in his hands.

Sven, noticing Train's unmoving state on the table decided that it would be safer to retreat up the stairs. He had a few people he wanted to email that picture to, and it would serve as an excellent souvenir the next time that Train decided to piss him off. This day was definitely one of the best in Sven's life.

"Eve! Let's send this picture to Annette! And Rinslett!" Sven yelled in delight, as Eve, letting out a laugh at Train, who remained abnormally still on the dining table, ran up the stairs to know that a particular shot of Train covered in red cordial, would be safely stored in the cyber world forever to laugh at.

Once all sounds of laughter had disappeared, Train made his move. Train wanted to facepalm himself for forgetting about April Fools Day, but at that moment he decided that a facefloor would serve his purpose better. Rolling off the table slowly, and perfecting the facefloor that Train knew he deserved, he realised all of a sudden why he had forgotten it was April Fools Day, and why he was so damn tired. Sven had quite the surprise waiting for him the moment he booted up his shiny, new computer.

**I know it's long past April Fools, but once I came up with the idea I couldn't wait. Train getting an April Fools Joke pulled on him – that's a first I enjoyed writing. So pretty please leave a review, and because I'm feeling nice (or maybe because you guessed), the next chapter is on the April Fools joke that Train pulled on Sven. :D And just if you don't get what I mean by facefloor...just imagine Train falling off the table and landing face-first, starfish style, on the floor (which for Train's sake, better be carpet)**


	16. April Fools Saga II : Sven

**Intro: Train gets his revenge for Sven and Eve's earlier prank on him**

Sven couldn't help but lose his usual stern faced image as he ran gleefully up the stairs, a digital camera in hand with a shot of Train covered in red cordial. He, Sven, had actually managed to pull off an April Fools Joke on Train, a joke that would soon be available for all to see.

Eve looked over the handrail of the stairs, checking to see that Train was still in the same facedown position that they had left him in. A thought poked at the corner of her mind – a thought that told her that Train seemed unusually exhausted, but Eve, in her joy of finally getting something over Train dismissed the thought.

Sven skipped towards his room, and reached for his shiny new laptop computer – a reward, Sven had rationalised, was well deserved even with his debts roaring to a new high. Sven moved to open up the lid of the laptop and froze, one name on his tongue.

"TRAIN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY COMPUTER?" Sven yelled in horror, time seeming to freeze as Sven absorbed every detail of his poor poor laptop. The originally pristine black keyboard keys were covered in bright neon stickers of cats and milk, the letters of every keys indistinguishable for typing. When Sven finally managed to get over the initial shock of seeing the keyboard, he turned on the laptop with the 'on' button, only to realise that the monitor was heavily drawn over with permanent markers, with typical Train smileys and stick figures. And when Sven's desktop finally loaded, Eve came running in after hearing Sven's strangled yell.

"Sven?" Eve asked, resisting the urge to look down the stairs where Train was probably laughing his head off. Sven was certain that Train had found a deeper meaning in the statement 'revenge is sweet'. For Train, that statement was quite literal, considering the cordial he had been soaked in.

"My... desktop...," Sven stuttered. "Go kill Rinslett for me will you?"

"Rins? Why?" Eve leaned forward and looked at Sven's desktop and nodded in understanding. "Ah."

"Ah? My desktop is covered in..." Sven looked away from the desktop, distressed. "...porn. I am a gentleman! Helping damsels in distress. I do not ever look..."

Sven slammed shut the laptop in despair. Changing Sven's desktop into a fine selection of porn was probably Train's idea, but Train's previous experiences with technology alerted Sven to the fact that the actual desktop changes were courtesy of Rinslett, especially seeing as one of the images was signed 'Love Rinslett'.

"Eve, can you get me a cloth and some whiteboard markers?" Sven said, mustering the courage to open the lid of the laptop so he could clean off Train's specially selected array of smileys and stick figures. At least Sven had figured out through a combination of whiteboard markers and hard scrubbing meant that permanent markers were not as permanent as they seemed.

"Sven..." Eve began, opening his wardrobe. "I see why Train is so tired. He was probably getting this all ready last night!"

"Train..." Sven said, dread filling him up. Sven turned around to see that his collection of pristine hats were dyed pink, and his clean white shirts were covered in even more smileys and stick figures that whiteboard markers would never be able to remove.

"TRAIN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SHIRTS! My shirts..." Sven couldn't help sinking into the wardrobe as laughter could be heard downstairs.

"No one pulls an April Fools Joke on Train and gets away with it!" Train yelled triumphantly from downstairs. "You sounded so fun-ARGH!"

The accompanying crash alerted Sven and Eve to the fact that Train had crashed or fallen over something, and possibly damaged something downstairs.

"I'm fine," Train yelled, his voice muffled. "I've just got to send that sound recording to Rins..."

The phrases 'send' and 'sound recording' jolted Sven from his state of depression. All thoughts of humiliating Train was gone as Sven raced out of the room, determined to stop Train sending the text that would be the ultimate doom for Sven for at least the next ten years.

"Don't you dare!" Sven yelled. Normally, Eve would have raced down the stairs and helped Sven (nothing felt better than beating Train), but the presence of another visitor smirking gleefully stopped her.

"Eve," Rinslett smirked. "I seem to have created an atmosphere of destruction, haven't I?"

Rinslett pulled open the lid of Sven's laptop and smirked at the wallpapers that she spied on the desktop, and openly laughed at the sight of Sven's wardrobe as her phone rang in the background.

The further sounds of breaking objects downstairs and the sound of Sven strangling Train alerted Eve to the contents of Rinslett's message. Rinslett opened the message as Sven rushed into the room, sans eye patch, followed by Train, still covered in his cordial soaked pyjamas.

"TRAIN!" Sven roared angrily through the speakers of Rinslett's phone. This was followed by the clear sounds of Sven moaning in despair.

"I win," Train said smugly, leaning on the doorframe.

"We can take the cost of the cleaning bills for Sven's shirts out of Train's milk money," Eve said, a notepad mysteriously appearing in her hands as she wrote down the comment.

"Aw, Princess, do you have to be so mean?" Train moaned, sinking down the mentioned doorframe, a pale red stain staining the white doorframe. "My pjs are ruined beyond repair."

"I thought you didn't like that pair, though," Eve shot back, as Train had to repress a sigh and Rinslett grinned in anticipation of some Train bashing.

Would Train admit that his pyjamas with the cats were his favourites and risk losing some of his manly pride, or would Train remain silent and maintain his dignity?

Train groaned and raise his hands up in the air in defeat, stomping out of the room while wondering whether a purchase of bleach would be too suspicious.

"I thought so," Eve said with a nod. "He always liked those pyjamas."

Sven made no notice of this comment as he watched Rinslett set Train's recording as her ringtone.

**Ah...revenge can be sweet, but it goes in two ways, yeah? I've been pretty busy with exams the last few weeks and I apologise for the lack of updates. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter and feel free to drop off a shiny review with any comments :D. And just as a question – as readers would you rather maybe one or two more April Fools pranks after this or for me to write about something completely separate? :D **


	17. April Fools Saga III : Eve

**Intro: Train really was on a high the night before, wasn't he? It wasn't just Sven that got pranked.**

Eve sat down on her bed and sighed, thoroughly exhausted by the day's events. It wasn't even midday, and Eve's planning of Train's April Fools Joke as well as trying to deal with the aftermath of the one that Train had pulled on Sven had made her mentally and physically exhausted. To top it off, those separate pranks would be pushing them all further into debt.

Sighing, Eve went to her bookshelf, eager to lose herself in a book and forget the worries of the day. However, Eve opened the book to find that it was blank. Completely blank. With a gasp, Eve dropped the book and took another one off the shelf. It was blank too. Eve frantically grabbed another one, until she had pulled off every book in her bookshelf. Every single one of her precious books was blank!

Unlike Train and Sven, who had yelled out the moment that something had gone wrong, Eve remained silent, breathing slowly to avoid running downstairs and murdering Train in the most evil way that she could think of.

Don't yell, Eve thought determined, gritting her teeth. Resist…urge…to…murder Train… Eve looked down at the floor and noticed that one of the corners of the books was peeling. Slowly, Eve inched down and picked the book up, only to find that the cover peeled off to reveal a blank notebook. Her books were safe for now. But Eve could no longer resist the urge to bash Train into a pulp with whatever her imagination could think up of.

Eve pulled opened her door (pulling the door of its hinges in the process) and ran down the stairs, transforming her hands into a hammer. Remaining silent was the smart thing to do as Train would never hear her coming…

Train was sprawled across the sofa having finally changed out of his cordial soaked pyjamas and was just enjoying a quality glass of milk fresh from the supermarket when something wacked his head. Hard.

"OW!" Train yelled, hopping off the sofa and leaping back to avoid being hit a second time. Not to his surprise it was Eve standing in front of him, panting and her arms transformed into a hammer. Guess she found her April Fools Joke, Train couldn't help thinking.

"Train, where are my books?" Eve gritted through her teeth, this time changing her hammer into a mace.

"Don't be that way, Princess," Train grinned, jumping back as Eve leapt forward again.

Eve gave Train another glare, this time sprouting wings. "Where are my books?"

Train looked at Eve cautiously as she made another attempt at bashing his brains out. "Come and catch me, Princess."

Train leapt away from Eve and sprang up the stairs, Eve flying closely behind. Eve held back her desire to yell at Train again and this time transformed her hair into her thin nano blades, intent on giving Train several hard wacks on the brain to make him spill out the location of her books. Surely not even Train would go as far as to throw away her precious books, right?

Eve froze. Train had somehow led her to the bathroom (and disappeared at the same time), and for some strange reason the bathtub was filled with books. Hundreds of them. Was Train hiding her books away so he could give her some new ones an idea of a pleasant gift?

"Train…" Eve smiled, grabbing one of the books from the bathtub. "I didn't expect this from you."

Eve was unaware of a small clicking noise in the background, before opening the nearest book and letting out a yell. Any good feeling that Eve had for Train had evaporated.

"Train, I HATE PICTURE BOOKS!" Eve yelled, dropping the book that she was holding that happened to be volume one of a manga series. Manga, under Eve's definition, was a picture book. And Eve hated picture books.

Train's laughter could be heard as he popped his head into the bathroom.

"Princess, you know how popular those books are right? They're awesome," Train sighed, waving around another copy of manga. "Especially this series. Just look at the graphics…."

"Train, I have no desire to see how you lust over for women," Eve said, attempting to think up of a snappy comeback and scanning her mind for the most torturous method of getting her books back simultaneously.

"What?" Train exclaimed, tumbling to the ground. "I had only meant to show how awesomely some people could fire guns around here!" Train's waving around of Hades did not help Eve's mood, as Train let out another bout of laughter.

Train leapt deftly into the bathroom and grabbed a small black object that had been hidden in the corner. Eve once again reached out to bash him on the head only to notice the tap…

"Train, give me that video camera or these picture books are going to get wet." To punctuate her statement, Eve reached her hand out slowly to the taps on top of the bathtub.

"Your books are at the bottom," Train said hopefully in an attempt to deter Eve, turning the video camera on with a flick of his finger and beginning to view the video that had just been filmed. "That's funny Eve. 'Train, I didn't expect that from you'. You're so nice."

Eve rummaged through the tub and pulled out several books before waving her hand ominously above the tap. "The rest are manga, Train."

"Train, what on earth is happening here?" Sven sighed, aroused from his moping after Train's attack on his laptop and laundry. Sven noticed the bathtub of books, the video camera, and Eve's position near the tap and sighed even further. "This is just great."

"Eve, if my books get damaged, I'm not going to pay the fee to clean up Sven's hats," Train sang, with a typically evil grin.

Eve was torn. Torture Train or watch Sven get tortured as he wore his damaged shirts… Train watched as Eve's fingers got a little too close to the taps. It wasn't like he was that stupid not to consider that Eve would use the tap as a bargaining chip.

The so-called non-slip mat that Eve was standing on suddenly pulled her off balance as her fingers pulled on a string that Train had tied as a safety measure. Eve fell on the bathroom floor, not reacting in time in order to prevent herself falling. Train turned on the bathroom fan as Eve realised why the mat had slipped. Train had covered the floor underneath the mat with some damn _honey_. And the bathroom fan that Train had just turned on caused a small white pile underneath the fan to suddenly fly up into the air and separate into hundreds of fluffy cotton balls. Sven and Eve only had time to watch in horror as the cotton landed lightly on the bathroom floor covered with honey. Eve sat in the pile of honey, covered in cotton balls as Train quickly moved out of Eve's range of attack.

"Wow, you look really funny, Princess. Rinslett!" Train yelled, running away from the scene of the crime, the video camera in hand. "How do you save a video?"

From the echoes of "You idiot Train, the camera saves itself unless you delete it!" Eve looked at her surroundings once more then back at Sven.

"We are so getting Train back for this," Eve growled, attempting to remove some of the cotton balls stuck to her and failing miserably. Eve got up, presumably to rush downstairs and grab the camera off Train, before Sven stopped her.

"There is a rule for April Fools. Once it is past noon*, you can't play anymore April Fools jokes or else you will be 'the fool' for trying to do so," Sven said sadly, revealing his watch to show that it was just past twelve.

Eve just stood there, stunned. Train was so dead next year.

*In some countries, April Fools ends at noon if you were wondering. Says so on Wikipedia :D

**This will be the last April Fools chapter in a while. I know that it isn't as funny as the rest, but I put the urge for Eve to act in character over a few extra laughs. Anyway, hope you've enjoyed this, and please please review. You can drop in some ideas as well, and I WILL get to them, no matter how long it takes. Eventually :D**


	18. Double Date

**Intro: It's a double date with Jenos and Rins, and Eve and Leon. Let's check out the chaos shall we? :D**

Rinslett had to restrain a smile as she watched Jenos stare impatiently around the shopping centre, arms crossed and a frown getting heavier and heavier by the second. Unknown to Jenos, Rinslett had invited a few extra _guests _to join them on her third date with Jenos, and now was the time to wait and test Jenos's patience. Rinslett was not surprised to learn that Jenos was an extremely impatient person, but could be controlled with a flick of her finger.

"Ahhh, finally," Rinslett sighed with a smile, spotting the bobbing head of Eve and her companion Leon through the masses at the shopping centre. Jenos's head snapped up at her comment, and his frown was replaced with an expression of horror as he recognised Leon.

"What's…that _kid _doing here?" Jenos exclaimed, recognising Leon as the Taoist that he had fought it Creed's castle.

"The same could be said for you, old man," Leon grumbled as he approached the coffee table where Rinslett was waiting to be met with the sight of the 'old man' he had tried to kill.

"Leon," Eve exclaimed. "Manners. We're on the same side now… hopefully."

"Exactly what little Eve here said," Rinslett said brightly, poking at Eve's cheek. "You've grown so much, Eve."

At Eve's disgruntled expression at being poked at by Rinslett like a two-year old child, Leon stepped forward.

"Wouldn't be a good idea to poke Eve's face unless you want her to bash your brains out and for me to… blow you away," Leon said, unaware of the blush growing on his face.

"The kid's blushing," Jenos said, resisting the urge to 'awww' sarcastically. "How cute."

"Shut up, old man!" Leon replied angrily. A small wind began to flicker around Leon's feet, as several passer-bys looked on curiously.

"Leon!" Eve yelled angrily, at the same moment Rinslett exclaimed "Jenos!"

"Behave yourselves," they gritted simultaneously. Eve and Rinslett gave each other a grin and their simultaneous response to restrain their partners, before giving them the evil eye.

"Leon, take this time to get over your prejudices on adults," Eve said, looking more like Leon's mother, hands on her hips.

"You, Jenos, I thought you were capable of some respect. Maybe you can add that to your list of not-to-dos-in-a-date-with-Rinslett that I know you possess," Rinslett added angrily, Jenos feeling his cheek tingle with apprehension. Not good at all.

Jenos couldn't help but sigh. He should never have blurted out the existence of that particular list. Rinslett had bugged him until he had told her everything on the already extensive list he had. Still, he hadn't been slapped yet. He would blame that kid if he was.

"Now, is this double date still on or what?" Rinslett demanded, with Eve giving her a short nod in response as Leon remained sitting, looking positively reprimanded.

"This date is still on," Eve said. "Leon, you better make it up to me or I'm not sparring you tomorrow."

"Seriously?" Leon groaned. Jenos looked at Leon with interest. So, the little kid could fight his girlfriend like a man? That was news to Jenos, and his respect for Leon increased slightly. Very slightly.

"Shopping," Rinslett grinned, knowing that it was the ultimate hatred of men on a date. It was time for their redemption. "Eve, we are going shopping. It would be so cute to get you guys matching outfits."

Eve couldn't help but match the expressions of horror etched on Jenos's and Leon's faces as Rinslett's glee of taking them shopping – the ultimate torture technique.

* * *

"Shopping," Leon grumbled to Jenos as he lugged around several bags that Rinslett had brought for Eve. "That woman of yours is pure evil. Thank goodness Eve isn't like that."

Jenos was about to snap a reply back, to tell Leon not to call Rinslett 'that woman', until he was distracted by his statement on Rinslett being 'pure evil'. "Yes, my Rins is pure evil," he groaned. "On our first date we went shopping too. My cheek was red for a week where she slapped me, and I had a hard time stopping Naizer from laughing." It was at that point that Jenos realised his slip-up at not calling Rinslett 'my'. At least she was several metres ahead torturing Eve with more clothing.

"Naizer – the guardian with the tonfa?" Leon asked, thinking about that battle. "Sorry about calling you 'old'. It was just that you majorly pissed me off."

"Sorry about calling you 'kid'," Jenos couldn't help but apologise back. Had Rinslett's constant slapping made Jenos apologetic? He was getting too nice, Jenos couldn't help thinking. "I tend to insult people that I'm fighting."

"I think everyone does," Leon added with a grin. "Eve loves insulting Train with a passion. She thinks it's funny."

"Heartnet? Poor guy," Jenos couldn't help smirking.

In front of them, looking immersed in the clothing but actually listening to the conversation of their two partners, Eve and Rinslett were pleased to see that they were actually getting along.

"I may reward Jenos for this by not slapping him for a week _and _making sure we don't go shopping next time," Rinslett grinned cheekily. "I'll regret it, but Jenos is being a good boy today."

"I've just made Leon prove another point to me," Eve said serenely. "He's probably going to beat me in a fight soon."

As Jenos and Leon continued to chatter and forgive the other, the two women couldn't help but smile.

"Can't we just torture them for a little while longer?" Rinslett smiled, as she approached the checkout.

Eve didn't reply, but threw the clothing that Rinslett had brought to Leon, who only managed to retain his balance with Jenos's assistance with a fond smile.

**I couldn't resist :D. I just find Rins and Jenos so hilarious…. As usual, please leave behind a review (and thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed previously – I am a very bad judge at knowing whether or not my own work is funny or not), and I'll try and get another chapter done as soon as possible :D**


	19. VII and X in the Shadows

**Intro****: Jenos (VII) and Xiao Li (X) are sent on a mission to assassinate the leader of a shadow group trying to destroy Chronos. But first, they need to infiltrate the group….**

Stretching his fingers experimentally, Jenos, Number VII of the Chronos Numbers caused his weapon Excellion to slice through several thick steel poles that he had set up in a carefully arranged pattern earlier to practice. Examining the clean cuts on the steel, Jenos returned to his original position and with a slight twirl of his fingers, caused the remainder of the steel poles to be cut into a neat criss-cross manner, leaving behind hundreds of equally sized diamond shaped steel fragments on the floor.

Surveying the wires on Excellion, Jenos determined that the wires were as sharp as ever, and slid the glove off.

"Just as efficient as ever," a voice sighed as they entered the room silently. Jenos noted how their blonde hair fell gracefully down their shoulders like Sephira's would, but Jenos knew that not even Xiao could fool him with a disguise on Sephira. Jenos had spent far too many hours admiring all aspects of Sephira, something that he would never admit to Rinslett, of course.

"Xiao, I know it's you," Jenos replied, stowing Excellion safely away within his jacket. The Xiao-Sephira looked at Jenos with an expression that Jenos knew the real Sephira wouldn't wear before pulling off his mask to reveal his real face.

"Does Sephira know you're impersonating her?" Jenos asked with interest, as Xiao motioned for Jenos to follow him without a word.

"No, and I'll prefer it that way," Xiao snapped, whipping his weapon, Siren protectively around him like a cape. "The Elders request a meeting with us."

Jenos was forced to follow Xiao as he walked briskly towards the main room in the Chronos HQ where the Elders delivered their missions to their Numbers. Jenos noted that with Xiao's uptight behaviour Xiao had already heard the mission, and didn't like it one bit. The fact that more than one Chronos Number was required proved that the target was formidable.

Entering the room, Jenos noted Sephira's serious expression, as well as the one on the Supreme Leader of Chronos, Willzark's face on screen. The other two screens where the other two Elders would normally appear were blank, and this set off the alarm bells in Jenos's head.

"Number VII, do you know why you have been summoned here?" Willzark boomed, Jenos suppressing a wince. Even though Jenos had been a member of the Numbers for several years, Jenos was faced by the same routine by the Elders with every mission he given by the Elders. From the expression on Xiao's face, even though he had been with Chronos for less than two years, he too wearied of this routine.

"I have been assigned a target with X?" Jenos asked respectfully.

"Correct. Chronos has been faced with a new problem. As usual, any conversation within this room is to stay within these walls, correct VII?" Willzark said, tone implying this was more than just an order.

"Correct," Jenos replied, having being faced with this question far more times than was necessary.

"Good." The two previously blank screens beside Willzark flickered to life with several pictures of destroyed buildings.

Jenos frowned as he recognised the buildings as Chronos buildings down in Wulkot. Willzark nodded as he noted Jenos's expression.

"Your suspicions are correct. The destroyed buildings belong to our bases in Wulkot. Your target is the leader of the organisation that destroyed these buildings, the Ombres, who currently goes by Fletcher Clare."

The pictures of the destroyed buildings changed to one of a man who looked as if he were in his mid-twenties with jet-black hair and dark eyes. The other screen showed background information on Fletcher, revealing that Chronos had executed his brother several years ago, as well as details on his childhood, education and family.

"So he wants revenge by destroying Chronos? Why do we need two Numbers for this target?"

"This is not just a mission to eliminate the target," Sephira interrupted, stepping forward towards Jenos. "It is also a reconnaissance mission. We also need to know the size and strength of the Ombres so we can later destroy them fully."

"We search out the Ombres then eliminate their leader?"

"Correct. There will be a celebratory party for a company that is really a front for the Ombres in Wulkot. You and X are to infiltrate the party and find information on the Ombres, as well as their purposes for holding this party. You are then to eliminate Fletcher Clare. You have two weeks."

The three screens in the room suddenly went blank, leaving Jenos, Xiao and Sephira waiting in the darkness.

* * *

"So, Xiao, how do you think we can get into the party?" Jenos asked, hands on his head as he watched Xiao think. "Personally I think two men going alone would look suspicious to the Ombres. They'll be looking out for the Chronos Numbers, but not for a rich husband and wife couple eager to get drunk for the night."

"What?" Xiao spluttered in shock, dropping the pen that he had been fiddling with. With his experience in disguises that gave him the nickname 'The Magician', Xiao knew that in this scenario he would be the wife that Jenos had mentioned. As Xiao picked up his pen from the floor, he noticed the grin on Jenos's face.

"No," he said, turning away. "No."

"But Xiao, don't you think it's reasonable?" Jenos asked, getting up from the chair he was resting in. "The Ombres would be expecting us to eliminate their leader and we look too suspicious the way we are. Your hair is long enough to pass for a woman. After all, you do a pretty convincing version of Sephira."

Xiao resisted the urge to snarl. It was an argument that Xiao knew he was going to lose, but he wasn't going to lose without making Jenos squirm the way that he was now squirming at the idea of posing as Jenos's wife. Turning to face Jenos, Xiao managed to hide the grin that was threatening to appear on his face.

"Fine, on one condition," Xiao started, noting the expression on Jenos's face. He would survive as long as Jenos didn't start flirting with him. "Excellion is way too obvious to bring into the party, whereas Siren, as long as we cover my number, can easily pass as a scarf or cloak."

"You saying that I'm going to this party unarmed?" Jenos groaned in despair – he was rather attached to having Excellion by his side, even though he knew he was more than capable of eliminating targets without it. "Then I dibs on choosing your appearance."

"It's reconnaissance. We merely have to get past the guards and find out information. The elimination will only take place once all our facts are clear. And you are not choosing my appearance."

"It's that or flirting," Jenos said, his eyes lighting up. Xiao gave Jenos an expression of absolute horror before storming out of the Chronos safe house they were staying in before Jenos brought him a strapless dress to wear.

* * *

"Ooh, we're here," Jenos smiled, dragging with him Xiao, who was heavily plastered in make up. His hair was now short and brown, and Xiao couldn't help but think that his current appearance was based upon Rinslett. Xiao knew that Jenos had been secretly dating Rinslett after Creed was defeated, but never imagined that Jenos would make him dress up like her too. Xiao was wearing a long navy blue dress that accentuated his body to make him look feminine, and wrapped around him like a jacket was his weapon, Siren.

At the entrance of the party, which was located on the first three floors of a tall company building about twenty-five floors high, were several bodyguards, dressed in black and all holding serious-looking weapons.

"See, they were looking for us, Li," Jenos smirked, as with a tight embrace with Xiao, managed to get past the guards unchallenged. Jenos had kindly offered to choose the name that he called Xiao for the night, but Xiao had refused to budge further than his last name. He had already more than used up his quota by dressing up in an appearance of Jenos's choice and being forced to wear a dress.

"Well, JenJen, there's no need to worry," Xiao smiled falsely, noting the frown that appeared on Jenos's face. "You can't expect me to dress up for you and not get you back."

Smiling sweetly at Jenos as they walked further in through the throng of bodies at the Ombres party, Xiao picked up several muttered words from Jenos, including "Nazier wouldn't," and "at least Belga never called me that." Xiao looked around the room and helped himself to a small glass of wine, as Jenos approached a nearby table and began nibbling on some of the food. Tasting the food and wine was merely a technique the pair was using to approximate the funds of the Ombres.

"This is really expensive wine," Xiao commented, handing Jenos the glass to sample. "The Ombres certainly aren't lacking in funds."

Jenos took a small sip and his eyes widened in surprise. "You're right. Even if I wanted to I wouldn't be able to buy a bottle of this stuff for Rins. This is really old aged wine as well."

Xiao examined the rest of the food on the table, noting that they were all higher end delicacies.

"Truffle and caviar…" Jenos said in admiration. "If they can afford to spurge this much on a party that is nothing more than a front for some dodgy activity… it would be almost worth it to snack everything on the table."

"Jenos, we're not here to party," Xiao hissed, attempting to note any suspicious movements around the party. Jenos nodded sadly and discarded the glass of wine that he was drinking. It wouldn't do either of them much good if he ended up getting himself drunk on a reconnaissance.

"Movement at two o clock," Xiao hissed, dragging Jenos along the long tables that lined the centre of the room, covered in the expensive food and drinks they had been sampling. From the angle that Xiao had pointed out, Jenos noted several men in black, hidden in the darkness of the party, carrying several briefcases between them.

"That's why the Ombres had this party," Xiao realised, finally figuring out what the party was a cover for. "There was something they needed to move to their HQ in secret."

Jenos took one look at the men lugging the briefcases, and noting that they were all male, pushed Xiao forward.

"What?" Xiao hissed as he wobbled on his high heels. Xiao had only ever dressed up as a woman on those very few occasions that he had needed to be forced to it and had yet to master the art of walking on high heeled shoes.

"That's not very ladylike," Jenos joked, earning a withering glare from Xiao. "On a more serious note, you're the Magician. I'm sure you can get something out of those guards."

"Fine, but watch my back," Xiao replied, shaking off all thoughts of his humiliation as a result for attempting to flirt and walking towards the men in a seductive manner. Jenos stood nearby in the darkness, close enough to hear every word that Xiao said. Could be useful blackmail material, Jenos jokingly thought as Xiao 'tripped' over and grabbed the nearest guard with a briefcase.

"I'm so sorry," Xiao said in a voice at least an octave higher than normal. "I-"

"Don't worry, milady," one of the bodyguards said. Already, he seemed to be smitten with Xiao. Jenos wasn't sure whether it was a combination of Xiao's body language, perfume, or simply the sheer attractiveness of his appearance (that Jenos knew he couldn't resist bragging about later on). "I'm sure the master won't mind a little eye candy tonight."

"The master?" Xiao said breathlessly, clutching his ankle. Jenos thought it was a real shame that Xiao lacked large amounts of leg hair – it would've been supremely amusing to wax Xiao. Jenos continued to follow Xiao in the darkness, picking up a gun on the floor that Xiao had clearly removed off several bodyguards as he 'leaned' on them for support.

"The master is a grand and intelligent man," the bodyguard boomed as he supported Xiao. "He plans to rid the world of the evil force secretly controlling a third of its economy. Within these briefcases are the materials that already destroyed several of their bases-"

"Williams!" another bodyguard interrupted. The bodyguard holding Xiao looked embarrassed, before gently setting Xiao down on a nearby chair. "I'm afraid that you cannot go any further. I apologise about your ankle."

Xiao gave the bodyguard one last pleading expression before the army of bodyguards disappeared into a nearby lift. Jenos reappeared from his hiding place and watched as the numbers showing the level the lift was on rose until it stopped at the twenty-fifth floor.

"Good job, Xiao. At least we know what's in the briefcases."

"If that's all I get for utterly humiliating myself… it's not enough," Xiao muttered angrily, handing a pocketknife concealed in the heel of his now-broken high heel shoe to Jenos.

"We know that Clare is here. We should be able to fetch the data on the Ombres if we get to the twenty-fifth floor."

"We'll need this though," Xiao said, pulling out a white card from within his dress. "I swiped this card off the bodyguard holding me."

Xiao didn't ask about the gun resting in Jenos's jacket pocket. The Numbers were more than experienced enough to make use of any available weapon they found.

"Let's go," Jenos commanded, Xiao returning to the role of the dutiful wife should any of the partygoers turn their eyes their way. Xiao swiped the card in front of a sensor where a lift button would normally go, with the lift opening with a light ping.

As the lift doors closed, Xiao took out a small black hair clip from his hair and stuck it to the roof of the lift. The clip was in fact a frequency jammer that prevented the cameras in the lift from sending footage of what was happening in the lift to whoever was watching in the security room. Once Xiao was certain that the jammer had taken hold, he began to unzip his dress.

"Xiao, what are you doing?" Jenos hissed, as underneath Xiao's dress was revealed to be a skin coloured suit that had given Xiao his womanly figure, by not only making his hips curvier but also increasing his 'bust' size. Xiao unzipped a pocket below the fake bust line in the suit to reveal Excellion, hidden snugly within.

"I thought you said that I couldn't bring Excellion?" Jenos asked, snatching his weapon from Xiao's hand and fitting the weapon onto his hand.

"I had to torture you a little for this outfit," Xiao admitted, slipping back into the dress. "But I wasn't going to jeopardise this mission because of the need to cross dress."

"Torture," Jenos muttered, discarding the gun that was hidden in his jacket. "I feel naked without Excellion."

"I think we can deal with the reconnaissance and the elimination tonight," Xiao added, breaking a few seams on the dress to make it looser.

"Me too," Jenos agreed, watching as the lights within the lift grew closer to twenty-five. "We finish off the guards, retrieve the briefcases, eliminate Fletcher Clare and get the info that the Elders want."

Xiao nodded in affirmative as the lift pinged on the twenty-fifth floor. Jenos got Excellion ready as Xiao removed Siren from his neck and got ready for battle.

The lift door slid open.

"Milady?" the same bodyguard that had helped Xiao earlier asked, as the others raised their guns.

"Do you really think that you can hurt me with those toys?" Xiao asked maliciously as he swung Siren, deflecting bullets and cutting the guns to pieces. Beside him, Jenos managed to disarm the rest of the bodyguards with a few swings of Excellion.

"It's the Numbers! The Chronos Numbers!" the bodyguards yelled in terror, running around in separate directions.

Xiao nodded at Jenos as they moved into action, knocking out or killing the disarmed bodyguards in their path. In the very corner of the floor, surrounded by men in body armour armed with machine guns was Fletcher Clare. Clare himself was nearly fearless, his eyes burning with hatred as Xiao and Jenos appeared. He too, wielded a machine gun in his hand and looked as of he knew how to use it.

"So the Numbers came for me," Clare said, raising the weapon. "You guys are good, but I doubt you can dodge that many bullets, or cut through the remainder of my men. You don't think I'll be stupid enough to remain here unguarded?"

"Really? You think so little of us," Jenos pouted, Excellion ready to be unleashed.

"I heard that your leader was a woman. Did you come along personally for me to kill?" Clare grinned, the men beside him pulling up their weapons as Xiao let out a sigh.

Xiao pulled off his mask, much to the shock of those in the room.

"I'm not the leader of the Chronos Numbers. It's time for you to pay for your crimes to Chronos," Xiao said, making sure that the light glinted off the X on the corner of his weapon before attacking the machine gun in Clare's hand, destroying it.

Beside him, Jenos was doing the same thing, removing half of the weapons from the men before they realised they were under attack and began firing. But it was too late. With the speed and skill of the Chronos Numbers, any bullets were either deflected or sliced into two, dropping onto the floor with a dull chink on the floor.

Within fifteen seconds, the room was entirely silent, with their target, the leader of the Ombres, Fletcher Clare, dead on the floor. His bodyguards, too were dead, the orichalcum weapons more than a match for their body armour.

"Check the table. See if Clare had a laptop," Xiao commanded, as Jenos shook the blood off Excellion.

"You deal with that. I want to see how much explosives the Ombres managed to get their hands on," Jenos said, moving back towards the lifts where they had earlier knocked out or killed the initial bodyguards.

It took an hour, but the lack of attention to what had happened on the twenty-fifth floor told the Numbers many things, most importantly that without Clare, the Ombres had no clear leader and would likely crumble without much assistance.

"I can't exit downstairs looking like this," Xiao said, pointing to his dress and his clearly masculine head.

"Can't you just make another mask?" Jenos asked, examining the remains of the mask that Xiao had earlier discarded during their elimination of Fletcher Clare.

"I may make it look like I make a mask out of thin air, but that's not entirely the case. You better understand this as long as Cerberus is out of commission as we're probably going to end up being paired together again."

Jenos nodded half-heartedly as Xiao explained.

"Well, you still haven't answered the question. How are we getting out of here?" Jenos asked, staring out the window.

To that statement, a wicked grin sprung up on the face of Xiao Li, Chronos Number X. It was time for some payback.

**By the way, Ombre is French for shadow hence the title of the chapter. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter and feel free to review and apologies for taking so long to update. I admit I got a bit too hooked to watching anime without doing anything else much. The prompt for this chapter was a review from Mew300 (a while ago…) for a story with VII and X so feel free to suggest stories with a review. I'll get there…eventually… :D**


	20. Witch Hunt

**Intro: We've seen Saya's death from Train's POV, now lets see it from Creed's…**

I had never felt such violent hatred in my heart before. I watched as my dear, but corrupted Train continue talking to that witch as if it were the most perfectly natural thing to do in the world. At least I had found that witch so I could rescue Train from her.

"So that's her," I hissed angrily, clenching my fists until they bled with the full force of my anger. "Saya Minatsuki…THE WITCH!"

As I stared, Train _finally _left the witch's corrupting presence with a farewell that was so different to the cold, heartless Train that had captured my very mind and soul. That witch was left there standing alone, and without Train's presence, looked awfully fragile.

"I am about to put an end to this, little witch…" I said, unable to resist the urge to state my thought out loud. My hatred for this witch was so strong I had to let my emotions out. This was one encounter that I was going to enjoy very much. My hand fell to the hilt of my beloved sword, Kotetsu as I imagined how beautiful it would look covered in the sweet scent of that witch's blood.

* * *

As the leaves crunched beneath my feet, I let out a snort of derision as I looked at the apartment block where that witch lived in. What on earth had my poor Train seen in this wrench? I thought of my Train, whom I discovered had been sentenced to ten days in the Disciplinary Room by the old hags of Chronos. True, it was heartening to know that my Train was openly disobeying Chronos – nothing would be better than to destroy Chronos with the Black Cat by my side. But the mere thought that it was the doing of that witch, that witch and her damned spells sent a fresh burst of anger running through my veins. Saya Minatsuki was going to hell tonight… and I would delight in sending that witch there, very very slowly.

I nearly puked at the door hanging by the apartment door reading "Minatsuki ". What kind of sick cutesy sign was that? Drawing Kotetsu with my right hand, I knocked on that witch's door with my left, ready to impale that witch the moment she got near the door. Then I would relish in giving her back to my Train in pieces, just to make sure that the spell was broken.

"Train?" I heard the witch ask as she approached the door. This was my moment – I was doing all this for my dear Train. I thrust Kotetsu violently at the door, and heard a startled gasp as something blocked my Kotetsu. So the witch was fast. That would make tonight's witch hunt all the more fun.

"Hey!" the witch shouted. "What is this?"

Some part of Train must've been fighting against the witch's influence if Train hadn't mentioned me to the witch. My dear Train must've known I would come and save him from the witch, and left me secret as his ace to save him.

"You're quicker than I expected, Saya Minatsuki," I said gleefully, opening the door slowly to maximise the creaking noise. "And yet, I will kill you." As I shut the door behind me, preventing any attempt by the witch to escape, I stuck my little calling card between the door and the doorframe. Train would know that his subconscious cry for release was answered at last.

The expression on that witch's face was priceless. I just wanted to drink up that fear, as my blood continued to boil with hatred. "For your sin of bewitching Train and making him weak…" My hatred overcame me that moment, as images of Train, weak and docile, flashed in my mind. Those days would be over. "You must pay."

Those damned images flashed in front of my eyes. Train, smiling, his eyes no longer that beautiful, exotic shade that screamed murder. "All the fire is gone from Train's eyes."

I remembered back to that wonderful day, where I had first met Train. His eyes had been the first thing that I noticed, and it was because of looking at Train's eyes that I had discovered that he had fallen under a spell. "The _old _Train had eyes as sharp as my Kotetsu, eyes that could kill. There's nothing of that left."

I took a step forward, and noticed that the witch's hands, where she held her pitiful gun, were shaking. "Saya Minatsuki, you bewitched him. _Witch!_"

That witch continued to stand there, fear but also confusion in her eyes. Train had hidden his ace well, hadn't he? "Who are you?" she asked, readying her gun, as if it could block my Kotetsu a second time.

I smiled. "Creed Diskenth… I was once Train's partner. And I will restore him to his old self." I took another step forward, and gave Saya Minatsuki the full force of my murderous hatred. "To do that, you must _die_."

I felt that witch's heartbeat increase at the sight of my eyes. I just wanted to swing Kotetsu and savour the taste of her blood, feel my sword slice through muscles and organs… the urge was intoxicating.

I leapt forward at the witch and took a swing at her, hiding my disappointment at only slicing her little yukata. I noticed as the witch eyed the window. So, the little witch had run out of spells, had she? She wanted to run away from her fate?

I watched as the witch jumped out of the window, landing neatly despite the drop several floors high.

"Nice," I said through my bloodlust. "That took some guts."

As I jumped down and continued hunting down that witch, I smirked as I felt the full force of the adrenalin in my veins, combined with my hatred.

"This should be fun," I thought aloud, taking another swing at the witch as she leapt out the way. It seemed that the only thing that this witch could do was run and dodge, as she continued descending lower.

"I will kill you a little at a time, Saya Minatsuki!" I yelled to her retreating back, trying to at least cut her and finally smell the hot scent of that witch's blood. I wonder what it tastes like too, I thought, licking my lips in anticipation.

As the fireworks in the background continued to pop, that witch finally stopped in a deserted alley. Did she decide to give up, and die like the little witch she was?

"It seems there's a celebration this evening," I began, attempting to hurt this witch mentally as well. I swung Kotetsu over my shoulders as I leered at the figure of the witch looking at her surroundings. "While the scum of the earth watch the sky, you will die alone!" I added with relish, as the witch continued to stare at me. Why wasn't she running?

"Well? Aren't you going to run? To buy yourself a few more moments of life?" To this I couldn't resist adding some laughter to it. It sounded so tragic, the little witch who ran just to buy herself a few more moments in her wicked existence…

I was startled as the witch stared at me fearlessly. It wasn't meant to be this way. She was meant to be lying at my feet, begging for her life. This witch was never meant to fight back.

"Run? Me?" the witch said, with a touch of astonishment. "Don't get the wrong idea… I was just trying to find a good place to fight."

Ooh, so the witch was going to fight back, eh? This would be so much more fun. I readied Kotetsu as the witch fired her gun into the air, but what I wasn't expecting was for the bullet to end up in my leg, sending along with it bursts of pain, and the even stronger desire to kill.

"How?" I gasped in shock, as my mind realised that the witch's bullet had _ricocheted_. The witch fired another one of those accursed bullets at me, this time grazing my right shoulder. How dare that bitch injure _me_?

"It's tough to dodge a ricocheting bullet, huh?" that witch said smugly. I was going to do whatever I needed to get that smug expression of that witch's face. How dare she!

"You- You did that on purpose?" I gasped, my hand shaking Kotetsu with anger. This witch had gotten too far. I was going to end this damn fight soon.

"Oh yeah. If I'd fired directly at you, you've stopped the bullet with your blade. So I used the reflect shot. I'm not new that this you know."

I couldn't stand to see the sight of that witch _smiling _at me. "You – I _will _kill you."

I no longer felt that bullet in my leg as I approached that witch. All I felt was the blood pounding in my ears, and the utter desire to tear that damn witch to pieces.

As I ran towards the witch, the witch's attention was diverted with the sight of several snot-nosed kids. "Children, no! Don't come down here!"

I was standing right beside the witch before she noticed my presence. "Worried about kids, are you? Sloppy," I smiled, as the witch turned to block my attack. But it was too late for her. I finally had the blood I desired, as Kotetsu sliced through the witch's chest, the witch falling to the ground like the dog she was. Finally. I felt the splatter of blood on my cheek, and saw the blood dripping down my blade. I felt alive. Train was going to be free very shortly.

I laughed as I walked towards the witch, breathing heavily on the footpath. "Ever the little fool. You allowed yourself to be distracted by _children_."

"Is she dead?" one of the children asked, and I felt the bloodlust within me rage even higher. It would be a cherry on top of the cupcake if I finished off those little brats. That little witch gave her life for those brats… only to watch them die. How perfect this night was, topped of with fireworks. "No way, that sword can't be real."

"Heh," I laughed, stepping towards those kids, blood dripping down my Kotetsu. "You are bad little boys. Out past your bedtime…" I raised my sword as I thoughtfully considered what to do to those kids. A good slice to the throat or a thrust through the chest? "You should be punished…" I added with a little laugh.

As I swung Kotetsu, ready to decapitate those little brats, I was frozen by the gunshot that raced towards my beloved blade, shattering it from the hilt. So, that little witch won't die? Did she want to ensure that my Train was kept from me, forever?

"Get out of here!" the witch cried desperately from her position on the floor. "Hurry!"

So she still wanted to save those kids? I let the kids run, as I approached the fallen witch just like the hunter I was.

"Not bad, little witch," I began, looking curiously at the hilt of Kotetsu. "I didn't think you had anything left." I discarded the useless hilt of my sword and picked up what remained of the blade. I didn't care that the razor sharp edge of my blade cut into my hand – the only thing I felt was the infinite urge to kill this witch, to cut out her heart.

"Not even Kotetsu could maintain its integrity when hit from such close range."

This walk towards the fallen witch confirmed everything I thought about myself, that I was powerful and I alone would save the world from the scum that ruled it. I was certain that this time, the witch had nothing left. She was going to die anyway, and it was merely a matter of how long it took her to enter the gates of hell.

"With that wound, you would probably die if I left you," I said, swinging Kotetsu to the witch's fallen body. "But just in case… I believe I will cut your heart out."

As I stepped forward, the witch kept her grip on her weapon, but I could see the shaking through her body as she tried to aim her weapon. I knew that this time, it was truly over. Train would be completely free from this damn witch.

"So you haven't the strength to pull the trigger… poor thing," I said in mock sympathy. The fireworks reached its peak as I raised the broken blade. "Let's put you out of your misery!"

I was thrown back as a powerful punch aimed at my face threw me back several metres. I got up off the floor, to see the most wondrous sight ever. There was my Train, staring at me with anger and hatred. The Train I knew was coming back, as the witch's spell started to crack.

"Creed! What the hell are you doing?" Train yelled in anger, eyes blazing.

Train certainly didn't waste his time leaving Chronos, did he? It was a shame that he arrived here still under that witch's spell.

"That was quick Train," I applauded. It didn't matter that Train came here to save the witch. He would end up watching the witch die. But with Train's emotions tangled up by the witch, it would be safer to leave.

"I know you're angry. But try to understand… I have your best interests at heart."

"My interests…" Train said, his voice barely controlled. I hid a sigh at the realisation that the days hunting Chronos with the Black Cat by my side would take a little longer. That witch had cast one hell of a spell if it still affected Train even while she was dying.

"Why, yes. That witch tried to corrupt you. You couldn't see it while trapped under her spell." I raised my hand as I smiled at Train, finishing my speech. "I killed her in order to save you."

I had several possible reactions thought up in my mind, but I didn't expect Train to lash out and punch me again. I could feel the emotions coursing through that punch and I knew that hidden deep within, the Train that I had first met was starting to re-emerge.

"Cut the crap. You have a death wish, don't you?"

Oh Train, if you had any idea what I had planned those words would never leave your mouth. There would be no reasoning with Train tonight, I realised sadly.

"It's pointless trying to reason with you like this." I jumped to the roof of the nearest building, feeling the pain in my leg re-emerge as my bloodlust faded. "So before you do anything foolish, I shall take my leave."

I stared down at the pitifully broken body of that witch, that witch that had taken my beloved Train away from me, but no longer.

"It's too late to save her. Once she's dead, you'll snap out of this. You'll realise… _I was right_!"

I disappeared to the echo of Train's voice, clearly heard even from here. One day, Train was going to stand by my side, and we were going to rule the world.

**The ending's a bit corny, but that is so something that Creed would've said anyway. After doing Train's POV I was interested in doing Creed's, except as a character I really really despise Creed. *****shiver*****. Anyway, tell me your thoughts with a review and feel free to suggest stories. :D Plus I made it to Chapter 20… this is my longest (chapter-wise) story so far :D**


	21. Creator and Clone

**Intro: Here's the visit that Eve had earlier promised to Professor Tearju, where they have a good one-to-one. **

"You've arrived," Tearju said excitedly, clapping her hands as Sven and Eve entered the threshold of her house. Sven looked around the house nervously and kept a close eye on Tearju as she led them further into the house.

"How long will you be staying?" Tearju gushed out to Sven as she walked carefully towards the kitchen to fill up a glass of water.

Sven continued staring wearily at Tearju before replying. "I'll be leaving Eve here for a few hours so you can chat. There's a bounty that Train has somehow persuaded me to go to and catch, but it's nothing big."

"Oh, that's fine," Tearju replied, walking over to hand over the glass she had poured for Sven, before tripping on some non-existent object on the floor and showering poor Sven in ice cold water.

"I'm so sorry!" Tearju apologised, rushing to get a sponge before tripping over once again, but this time grabbing the kitchen bench to prevent herself from falling completely. Sven stood there, his beloved hat dripping (at least it was only plain old water), and his meticulous outfit looking as if he had drooled all over it. It seemed that even an action as simple as pouring water turned into a disaster for Tearju, seeing as the water dripping down his shirt now had the consistency of tomato sauce.

"Don't worry," Sven said, waving off Tearju's attempt to clean him up before she injured herself once again. "I'll be going now."

"You sure?" Tearju asked anxiously, as more water dripped from Sven's hat. "Seems I put something funny into the water jug. It was meant to be just a little powder with some vitamins but…"

Sven took off his hat, before wondering how anyone could turn water into that kind of sauce-like consistency. "Take care of Eve, Tearju." As Tearju stumbled off to fix up the water jug, Sven turned towards Eve and muttered, "Please don't eat anything she cooks. We can't afford medical bills."

"It's fine, Sven," Eve reassured him. "I will cook."

To this reassuring statement Sven left the house, giving Tearju one more cautious look, Eve approaching Tearju in the kitchen. Tearju was examining the now-empty water jug try and trying to identify what had caused the water to turn into its sauce-like consistency.

"I have no idea," Tearju moaned, placing the jug into the sink and hoping that later she could successfully clean it.

Tearju turned to face Eve, her expression awkward. Tearju clearly wasn't sure how to break the ever-growing silence between the two of them.

"I can try to teach you to cook," Eve said quietly, walking towards the kitchen where Tearju still stood. "We need to eat anyway."

"You can cook?" Tearju asked, fascinated, as Eve reached for Tearju's cabinets and took out various utensils to cook with.

"After a while, Sven ran out of money to buy novels. I had to read some recipes he picked up from the supermarket," Eve replied, racing around the kitchen as Tearju watched in awe. The amount of ingredients that Eve had retrieved from the fridge had started to grow to mountainous heights.

"And you could cook them? Everything I cook turns into a wreck," Tearju laughed.

"I can try and teach you," Eve repeated, this time with a smile. "It makes sense that if I can learn than you can as well."

As Eve reached for the eggs and cracked them open on the side of the sizzling pan, Tearju watched as Eve expertly balanced the pan and turned the eggs over. The eggs turned out looking like the eggs that could be brought from the local café, cooked but once cut, runny in the centre.

Tearju took a tentative bite, startled to actually taste egg, not the arid taste of something burnt in her mouth. "It tastes like egg! I haven't eaten anything that didn't taste burnt in a long time…."

"You mean you've been eating your own cooking for how many years?" Eve asked, secretly wondering how Tearju was alive or even managed to survive on burnt food.

"I go to the shops and buy take-away mostly, but these taste like real eggs!" Tearju demolished the egg in seconds with an enthusiasm that rivalled Train, but unlike Train, Tearju didn't yell straight after she shoved the last piece of egg in her mouth for more to eat and spray egg pieces on the walls.

"Can I watch you cook?" Eve asked, after it was clear that Tearju was finished. "I want to see what you're doing wrong…"

"How do you do that flick with your wrist?" Tearju asked. "You did this weird flick when you were cooking."

Eve gave Tearju an odd expression, having no idea what Tearju was talking about. She didn't flick her wrist while cooking some eggs, did she?

"You can crack open the egg, right Tearju?" Eve asked, pouring a small amount of oil into the now-sizzling pan and handing Tearju an egg.

Tearju took the egg nervously, as one would handle a delicate object. Tearju's hand hovered over the edge of the bowl, before she violently swung her hand down, the egg shattering in a mix of shell and yolk.

The pan hissed menacingly as the few drops of egg that actually fell into the pan started to burn. Tearju stared apologetically as Eve blinked away the egg dripping from her face, her face expressionless and still.

"Eve?" Tearju asked nervously, grabbing a sponge and starting to wipe off the area. "I normally crack eggs into a bowl then pour it into the pan."

Eve wiped her own face, slightly fearful that Tearju's mere presence could cause the egg in her hair and face to change form just like with Sven's cup of water. "You don't need quite that much force to crack an egg…"

"I don't…?"

"I'll teach you to crack the egg later. First I'll get you to cook it." Eve dried her face with a nearby kitchen towel, before removing the burnt scraps of egg in the pan and repouring the oil. She retrieved another egg and cracked this into the pan, before handing the handle to Tearju.

"Try cooking it now," Eve commanded, stepping back to watch.

Tearju nervously held the pan in one hand, and grabbed a wooden spoon, poking the cooking egg in random places. Tearju set the pan back onto the hotplate, as Eve smelled smoke.

"Oh no, I've burnt it again!" Tearju wailed in despair. Eve stepped forward to find the egg that she had passed along to Tearju a mere minute ago charred black and smoking, looking more like part of a car tyre than anything.

"How did…" Eve could only stare at the egg. It shouldn't be possible to even burn the egg in that space of time, let alone change its consistency…

Tearju turned off the heat, before half-heartedly handing the pan to Eve. "Want to try?"

Eve looked at the egg, and Tearju's anguished face. Was Eve to risk her health permanently, or spare Tearju's feelings by eating this 'egg'?

"I'm joking, Eve," Tearju sighed, throwing the egg sadly into the bin, before stumbling back. "I don't seem to have the ability to cook, it seems."

Earlier that day, Eve would've said that nothing was impossible should one put their mind to it. But seeing Tearju's attempt at cooking an egg and her ability to turn it into something else… Eve would have said she found the exception to that.

**Apologies to the long wait for this chapter, but school has gotten crazy and I'm stressing away like mad with little time for else. Hopefully you've enjoyed this chapter and please review :D (hell, I need something to cheer me up – the mere thought of a three hour exam makes me melt) and feel free to suggest ideas for stories and characters. Once again, thanks for reading, and I'll update as soon as I can (no guarantees though :( **


	22. The Numbers Party

**Intro: Set straight after the defeat of Creed, the Chronos Numbers let loose in a party, Chronos style XD.**

Sephira held back a grimace as she gently eased out of her destroyed Chronos uniform, and with the assistance of a mirror, began bandaging her body and covering the wounds she received from Creed. Of course, Chronos had its own specialised set of doctors that would treat her wounds, but as leader of the Chronos Numbers, Sephira felt it would not be appropriate to approach the doctors wearing clothing that was about to fall off. Doctors were doctors, but Sephira knew from experience that some of them were not quite as discrete as they should be, their eyes lingering on Sephira's toned figure for longer than they should have.

Slipping on the trench coat that was the final part of her Chronos uniform, Sephira knew that she looked as presentable as she normally would have, apart from the throbbing pain she felt from the wounds that were still healing. It was fortunate that Chronos had a small base near Creed's headquarters and that Jenos had called thief-for-hire Rinslett in to take them there. Stepping out of her room, however, to visit the onsite doctors to treat her wounds gave Sephira a massive shock.

The earlier-empty meeting hall had been converted into what looked like a party in the few hours that Sephira had slept, recovered, bathed and dealt with her wounds. Sephira could hear the background music, kept quiet as a respect to their leader Sephira sleeping in the nearby room, echoing around the room, making it seem fuller than it really was. Looking towards the north of the room, Sephira could tell that this was no normal party, as several practice dummies and targets had been set up, with Numbers IV and VIII practicing and destroying the targets whilst trying not to destroy the room. Several other Numbers were watching with interest, with IX keeping track of how badly the targets and dummies were destroyed. A contest, Sephira realised with a slight smile. A contest… of destruction?

On the other side of the room was the long meeting table, now laden with food. Sephira did not want to know the origins of this party food, as this small base, to the best of her memory, wasn't exactly stocked with bottles of fine wine, caviar, as well as abalone. Whether or not the food was stolen, Sephira decided it was better not to know. It was at this point that Number VII, Jenos Hazard, noticed Sephira's presence.

"Seph-nee!" Jenos smiled, walking in his usual gentlemanly manner. "Good to see you're out and about."

Beside Jenos, Xiao Li, X of the Chronos Numbers, looked in disapproval at the raucous party surrounding him (because there wasn't another way to describe the scene, Xiao thought.) Sephira could tell from Xiao's slightly strained expression that it had been Jenos that organised the party.

"I'm out and about, yes," Sephira agreed, delicately picking up a cracker coated with caviar and tasting it. The caviar was fresh and crunched in her mouth as she chewed, and Sephira enjoyed the feeling of the juices wetting her dry mouth. Sephira hadn't realised how dry her mouth had become after those hours of sleep, as she reached for an empty glass on the laden table.

"Allow me to attend to you, Sephira," another voice interrupted, swiping the glass that Sephira had been reaching for. "Considering your injuries, I'm not giving you anything but water."

Sephira smiled at the sight of the Deputy Commander of the Chronos Numbers, Belze. Jenos looked just as surprised at Belze's appearance as Sephira did, as Sephira did not think that Belze would be participating in an event as immature as a party.

"I did not expect to see you here," Xiao said quietly at the sight of Belze. Belze let out a smile as he handed a glass full of water to Sephira.

"Someone had to make sure that we didn't destroy the building," Belze sighed, as Baldor 'accidently' smashed a window. But with the skills that the Numbers possessed, the foursome chatting away quietly at the table were positive that Baldor had smashed the window on purpose.

"Baldor and Kranz clearly didn't get enough destruction on Creed's island," Jenos said, remembering his fight with Creed's cyborgs.

"Oi! Commander! You lot!" Baldor yelled, his weapon proudly resting on his shoulder as he approached them. Xiao looked furious at being classified as 'you lot', whereas Jenos stared at the drunk Baldor with amusement.

"Clearly, in his disappointment at the lack of destruction, Baldor has drunk too much wine," Jenos sighed, but wearing a smug grin. "Care to join in the destruction, Seph-nee?" Jenos added. It was a party after all, and Belze had given the go ahead for the Chronos party after being informed that the building they were currently in was scheduled to be demolished. What Belze did not want, but felt would happen, was that the building was going to fall in a spectacularly grandiose manner that would set gossip in the town below running wild for weeks.

"Jenos, you have clearly forgotten that I am injured, haven't you?" Sephira said sternly, Jenos's grin fading slightly. "I didn't come here to party."

"The Commander is right, pretty boy," Baldor grinned, Jenos glaring at him angrily. Jenos did not like being in Baldor's company on a good day, and with Baldor drunk and calling him pretty boy…

"Go away, Baldor," Jenos muttered, Baldor looking slightly furious but still walking away. "Destroy the building more."

With a flick of his wrist, Excellion had suddenly appeared, and Jenos lashed out at the practice dummies some twenty metres away. The destruction competition going on grew silent as the heads on the dummies fell, and everyone stared at the smirking Jenos.

"I got this party started. So I'm going to do some destroying now," Jenos smiled, slightly evilly, bracing Excellion for some action with one hand, and the other hand grabbing Xiao's wrist. After all, Jenos believed that this could not be a party without some attempt at annoying Xiao, who had a wary look on his face as he wondered what Jenos was going to do to him this time.

"Jenos Hazard, what are you dragging me into?" Xiao gritted as Jenos successfully dragged him along to the scene of destruction.

The last thing that Sephira heard of their conversation before Jenos began joining in the destruction was Jenos's reply, "Without Cerberus to bug, I'll need to go double on you."

Sephira let out a smile as Belze remained by her side. "You should go get your wounds checked out, Sephira."

Sephira looked at Belze and reached out for another platter of food. "I'll stay and watch this place get destroyed. Chances are, the Chronos Numbers will destroy this place before the doctors check me over. So I wouldn't want to miss the party spirit."

Sephira gave the platter of delicately cut sashimi to Belze. "Would be a shame to waste all this nice food."

Belze would agree with Sephira that food was not considered part of the Chronos partying timetable. With the back wall of the building covered in cracks from Baldor's weapons, cuts from Excellion and general debris, the building wouldn't last much longer. To top it off, it seemed that Number V, Nazier had finally appeared, but to Belze's relief approached the food rather than join in the destruction happening at the back of the room.

"Did Jenos organise this?" Nazier asked with amusement, as the background music suddenly got even louder and the tempo increased, several Numbers attempting to dance.

"The threat of Creed has been destroyed," Belze said, dropping his usual stern expression. "We can celebrate… mostly."

"Did you know that from the outside, the building is beginning to tilt?" Nazier added, watching the movements at the back of the room.

"Nazier, have some food," Sephira commanded. "The party will be over once the building falls."

"Commander!" Nazier said, looking aghast as large cracks started to appear.

"Seph-nee, it looks like the wall is going to fall out!" Jenos yelled, voice excited but slightly slurred from the alcohol.

"Jenos…is drunk?" Nazier asked, slightly fearfully.

"So is everyone else," Belze added. "Except Xiao. But he's sulking a little whilst enjoying the destruction at the same time because he wasn't the one to think this up."

Nazier's groan was hidden within the sounds of the building groaning as it attempted to maintain its balance. But no wall in any building would stand up to the force of drunk Chronos Numbers partying. Everyone watched with baited breath as the northern wall simply crumbled, and as the building decided whether or not to join the wall in its destruction. Luckily for the Numbers, the building decided that the fall of one wall didn't necessarily mean the fall of the entire building. Yet.

Sephira smirked as her hand fell to her sword.

"Commander! You're injured," Nazier protested, as he sensed Sephira's intentions.

"This?" Sephira motioned to her body. "I can handle. I feel like destroying a building."

As Nazier stood there, mouth agape, Belze smirked. Maybe it wouldn't hurt too much to join in the party either.

**A/N: I realise that it has been over a month since I last updated, as a result of school, exams and a bit of writer's block XD. Seeing as I am about to start my final 4 terms of high school (scary) I'll probably not have that much time to write, but I'll try my best to update at least once a month for everyone. Reviews and story suggestions are very very welcome, with the above story based on Mew300's suggestion about the Numbers partaaaaying XD. So keep those reviews and suggestions coming (can we hit 80 reviews here?) and I'll be back as soon as I can :) and thanks for reading!**


	23. Fateful Birthday

**Intro: Leon wonders when Eve's birthday is and Train happens to be the only one at home…**

Unwrapping the final present on the pile, Leon saw the slight smile on Eve's face as she realised that he had left her present to the very end to unwrap. And Eve's present did not disappoint. Leon gently eased open the brightly coloured wrapping paper to reveal a new set of goggles of replace Leon's current pair, of which the strap was in tatters and the protective lens heavily scratched. Eve had clearly gone further and exchanged the original strap for one that was not only much more heavy duty than the original, but one that was decorated and showed the depth of affection that Eve felt for Leon.

"Eve," Leon said, surprised to find a slight lump in his throat and the beginnings of tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much. This is what I needed."

Eve smiled and walked forward, holding up the goggles to the sun and pretending to examine it. "You no longer have badly scratched goggles as an excuse to lose in our practices. And you will find that these goggles will do much more for you than the original."

Leon did not know what to say, only that he was filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling for Eve. However, behind this feeling was also the feeling of sadness. Leon got to celebrate his birthday and receive presents from the people who were most precious to him. But not once in the time that he had known Eve had Leon ever had an inkling of when Eve's birthday was, or whether she even had one. Leon knew that Eve was a clone of Tearju, but he believed that everyone had the right to a birthday, no matter who they were.

* * *

Leon's heart was racing, his mouth was dry, and despite the heat, Leon felt quite cold indeed. He was currently hiding in a small alley near the safe house that Leon knew Eve was staying in with her Sweeper partners, Train and Sven. It was the fifth day that week that Leon had snuck out to Eve's place, intending to drop by, but never had the courage to do so.

Leon watched as Eve, her blonde hair fluttering like wings in the gentle breeze, left the safe house with Sven seemingly to do some shopping. Safely perched on his head were the goggles that Eve had given Leon for his birthday, which Leon later found out, could not only serve as sunglasses, but also as night-vision lenses. It was because of Eve's consideration that Leon was here now. He wanted to give Eve her own present, one that showed her his appreciation for everything that they did together. Leon decided that he would wait no longer.

Stepping out from the darkness of the alley into the light of the sun, Leon still could not help but feel like a fugitive as he crossed the road and gently rung the door bell of Eve's house. As Leon had expected, it was Train Heartnet, the Black Cat, who answered the door. Leon had not seen Train leave the house and had expected him to be there, and Leon had somehow rather approach Train about his problems over Sven.

"It's the Princess's Prince," Train said, to nobody in particular as he invited Leon in. Leon made no response to Train's greeting – he knew that Train liked to nickname Eve 'Princess', but after several months of visiting, Train started to call him 'Prince' and occasionally 'little Prince', but Leon knew there was no malice intended in the word 'little'. It was a nickname that Leon continued to blush over, possibly because it implied that he was actively dating Eve, or that he was going to marry her someday. Train looked on with an amused smiled as Leon's face turned even redder than it was.

"Um, Train, I have a question to ask," Leon said nervously, avoiding making eye contact with Train until at least his face either returned to its normal colour, or somehow Leon attained an adrenaline rush that made him feel bolder.

"Why are you so red, little Prince?" Train asked, reaching for two bottles of milk from the fridge. "Milk? It may help with your red face."

Leon's face turned even redder as he accepted the milk. "I just wanted to know… when is Eve's birthday?"

"Eve's birthday?" Train repeated, sounding surprised at the question. "I've never thought to ask the Princess, and I don't think Sven has ever asked her either."

Leon bit back an exclamation as Train's gun, Hades, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and Train began scratching his head with it. No matter how many times Leon had stayed over, Hades would be drawn at some point, probably subconsciously, by Train. Leon noticed that this time, Train's concentration increased as he tried to come up with a better answer for Leon's question.

"I think," Train said slowly, "as Eve wasn't born like normal people she wouldn't have a 'birth date' like we have. A birthday is a date that someone was born, but it reality, that's all it really is. I know I've forgotten my birthday several times as well…"

Leon recalled an incident where Eve had described a major catastrophe due to Rinslett pulling a surprise birthday party on Train. Train had completely forgotten his own birthday and ended up destroying half the house before Sven could convince him that no, no one was coming to steal his milk. It was at this stage that Leon wondered whether asking Train about a subject this delicate was really the right thing to do. Maybe he should have asked Sven instead.

"Thanks, Train," Leon said, standing up and preparing to leave, but Train stopped him with a wave of Hades.

"If you really want to get the Princess a birthday present, choose a date that's important to her. Sven would say that Eve's birthday was maybe the day that he first met her or something," Train said, shrugging. "The most birthday experience I had was with Saya, and that's not something that I should be basing future birthdays on."

"Thank you, Train," Leon said, but this time meaning the words. Train's statement had given Leon a wonderful idea – Leon had the present ready, but now he had the date too. "I know when Eve's birthday is."

With a wild smile of his face, Leon ran out of the house, leaving a slightly confused Train in his wake.

* * *

Eve noticed that despite the gentle breeze that blew throughout the park that Leon's face was pale and his fingers were in a constant state of movement, either fiddling with the small package in his lap or adjusting his goggles. She had earlier received a message from Train that Leon had wanted to meet her in the park, and Eve was on guard the moment that Train let out a small smile. Train smiling like that was bound to get Eve suspicious.

"Leon?" Eve asked, Leon's head snapping up from its examination of the leaves on the ground.

"Eve," Leon replied, with a slightly strained tone suggesting that Leon had been holding his breath and had just exhaled. "There's something I want to give you."

"So I can see," Eve replied, motioning to the small parcel in Leon's lap as she joined him on the park bench. " I haven't seen you this nervous since the first time I saw you after Train defeated Creed."

"Eve." Leon's voice sounded as firm as steel, and looking deep into Eve's eyes, Leon prepared to announce the speech that he had prepared for Eve earlier that morning. "As you gave me these goggles -" Leon motioned to the goggles he was forever wearing "- there was something that I realised. I had never given you a present, never celebrated your birthday. I asked Train and realised that even though you weren't born like me or anybody else, your birthday can be any date that is important enough to celebrate. And today is one I think worth remembering."

Eve was startled to feel several tears slide down her cheek. Leon gently picked up the parcel from his lap and placed it into Eve's hands.

"I've been wanting to say this for a while. Happy Birthday, Eve," Leon said, feeling as if a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Eve slowly opened the small parcel in front of her, and stopped to reveal a small book. Picking up the book, Eve noted that it was different from any other that she had read, with the first page of the book stating it was dedicated to her.

"Leon… but how?" Eve asked, flicking through the pages. She recognised the story, the characters. Leon had written a book just for Eve, about the day they met, and the time they had spent together. "This is… beautiful."

"I knew you loved books, but I wanted to give you something special," Leon said, looking fondly at his creation.

"I've never received something this special before," Eve smiled. "Thank you, Leon."

Blushing slightly, Leon continued. "I organised cake and food back at home with Train."

"That was why Train was smiling, wasn't it?" Eve realised. "Just one more question – why today?"

"It was exactly two years ago on this date that I first met you, and that we first fought," Leon said, blushing a deep red. "That day you opened up my mind, and hopefully it's an important day to you as well."

"Yes, it is," Eve whispered, thinking back to that fateful day. And without warning, Eve snuck forward and gave Leon a small kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

Eve burst into laughter as Leon turned a shade of cherry red.

**As usual, don't own Black Cat or anything. And I'm actually updating within two weeks of the last update *cheer*. I wrote this chapter after finding a review asking for more Eve and Leon… I've delivered! Feel free to suggest some ideas, no matter how many you've asked for before XD. And to all those readers lurking and adding this story to their alerts or favourites without even leading one teensy review… if you like/love my story enough to favourite it, leave a review so I know why, yes? Nothing makes a writer more annoyed than seeing alerts without a review… so on that note, pretty please REVIEW? :)**


	24. Christmas Terror

**Intro: It all starts on Christmas Eve…chaos that is….**

As Sven rolled over and wearily eyed his calendar, it took his mind several seconds to register the fact that the date was the 24th of December. It took his sleep-muddled mind another five seconds to realise the significance of the date. Christmas Eve. It meant…

Sven jolted out of bed, grabbed the nearest available clothing (which happened to be a pair of jeans, mismatching socks and a gravy stained shirt), and hurriedly ran down the stairs. Every thud of Sven's hurried running matched the thudding of his frantic heart. Hopefully Train had forgotten. Hopefully the living room was…

Sven sighed in relief as he examined the living room, which looked identical to yesterday. No decorations. No Christmas tree. No anything that would be out of place. Sven let out another sigh of relief before realising the state of his clothing.

"Guess I better put this in the wash," Sven mumbled, slowly climbing back up the stairs as he undid the buttons on his shirt. Eve looked curiously at Sven as he discarded his mismatched clothing and made sure that his new set of clothing matched and was clean this time.

"Mo-morning Princess," Train yawned, stretching his arms out and shaking his head in the vain hope that it may reduce the appearance of his bedhead. Eve turned her gaze towards Train, and back to Sven with a blank appearance on her face.

"You both look funny this morning," she commented, and with a slight expression of concentration, Eve turned her hair pink. "I'll join in. Is there something special going on today?"

Sven looked nervously at Train before deciding that Train seemed sleepy enough for him to tell Eve. "It's Christmas Eve. Tomorrow, it's Christmas."

"Ah, I remember reading about Christmas," Eve commented, her memory drawing on the specific book she read fourteen days ago dealing with the traditions of Christmas over time. "But we haven't got any presents yet, Sven."

"That's what I forgot to do last night!" Train exclaimed suddenly. "I was supposed to decorate the living room and use some of Rins's make up on Sven as a joke!"

"You're not even hiding what you intended to do," Sven said weakly, quite relieved that Train had forgotten. "And when did you get make up from Rins anyway?"

Eve ignored Train and gave Sven a pleading look. "Can we go Christmas shopping together?"

"Sven, get me a hundred bottles of milk! I'll get you a few hats in return!"

Sven joined Eve in ignoring Train. ("Hey Sven! Don't ignore me!" Train pouted in the background.) "We can go Christmas shopping together. But we should split up, otherwise we'll know what we're been given and we don't want to ruin the surprise."

Eve smiled. This was going to be fun.

* * *

"Sven! Buy me that! Actually, I want that. No, buy that one Sven!"

Sven gritted his teeth as he tried to ignore every outburst from Train that came from any vaguely interesting, glittery object he saw. Eve had to withhold her laughter at the sight of Train bouncing down the shop aisles, terrifying shoppers and more conveniently clearing a path through the crowded shopping centre.

"Train, for the last time, could you please shut up?" Sven muttered angrily, and to his astonishment, Train quietened down.

"Sir, could you please refrain from smoking? It's a shared shopping centre," an assistant packing the shelves asked. Sven sighed. Without his nicotine hit, handling Train during Christmas shopping was going to be tough.

"Sven, I think I understand the concept of Christmas shopping," Eve interrupted. "Could I go shopping alone?"

"Aw Princess, why don't you want to shop with us?" Train grinned. "Look at this doll. It looks like you."

Eve gave Train one of the glares that she usually reserved just for him before turning her eyes back on Sven. Sven was torn between his gentleman's instinct of remaining near Eve to protect her, and knowing perfectly well that she could look after herself.

"Sven, the Princess can look after herself you know," Train interrupted. "I want some money too so I can buy some presents too!"

Eve reduced the severity of her glare towards Train as a thank you for his comment, as Sven reached into his suit and handed Eve some money.

"Try and spend it as carefully as you can, alright? We're already in enough debt as it is," Sven said.

"Where's my money?" Train whined.

"Train, the day I can trust you with our limited funds is the day the sun rises from the west."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Eve let out a small smile as she turned away from the still-bickering pair. It would be a wonder that any of them would manage to give presents this year, so Eve had no competition for whom would hand out the best presents this year.

* * *

Christmas Eve dinner was unusually quiet that night. Train's hurried munching of the food available was quieter than usual as he attempted to subtly eye the pile of presents resting on a table several metres away. Sven was pretending not to have noticed Train's 'subtle' eying of the Christmas presents whilst Eve was the only one acting normally, eating her dinner as she normally would on any day of the year.

"So…" Sven began, breaking the silence in the room. "How did you find Christmas shopping?"

Eve finished chewing her egg before replying with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Fun. I got everything that I wanted to. All the shop assistants were very helpful, and I still have some spare change left that we could use for New Years."

Train used Sven's conversation to focus his attention even further on the presents, attempting to guess at what was inside each present and abandoning any attempt at subtlety. However, unknown to Train, Eve had deliberately put her presents in spare boxes for the sole purpose of disguising their shape so Train couldn't identify them.

"Princess," Train asked, his glance shifting between the presents and Eve. "Did you all buy us boxes or something? The presents are all the same shape, just different sizes…"

"Train…." Sven began, exasperated. "You're not supposed to be guessing what's inside."

"Awww, but it's fun! Can I stay up until– "

"No Train," Sven interrupted with a loud sigh. This, he definitely saw coming.

"I haven't even finished _asking_ yet Sven, you're always interrupting," Train pouted.

"No Train, you cannot stay up until midnight to open the presents. We are going to open them _together_, and we are going to do it after eight in the morning."

"Svennnn! Just this once?" Train was doing his best impression of the puppy dog face, cat style, and Sven had to remind himself that yes, Train _was_ legally an adult. Although Sven was convinced that even after returning to his adult form after being hit by Lucifer, not all of him had returned to its adult state. Namely, Train still had the maturity of a ten year old.

"No. We need to set a good example for Eve." Sven crossed his arms and gave Train his most severe glare on the off chance that it may actually dissuade Train from doing something that he really wanted to.

"I don't want Eve to turn out all serious and boring like you, Sven."

"Sven isn't boring, Train," Eve interrupted, having enjoyed the conversation far too much and deciding that now was the opportune moment to intervene. "You are. You are far too predictable."

"You too, Princess?" Train moaned unhappily, leaning back on his chair and abandoning his puppy dog face. "Fine. I'm going to grab some milk before bed."

Train made a deliberate show of looking depressed, below slowly stomping up the stairs with a bottle of his beloved milk.

"He will be sneaking back here at twelve," Sven sighed. Some things were so set in stone that you didn't even need a foreseeing eye to know. Like Train sneaking back to open the Christmas presents at twelve.

"No, he won't," Eve said serenely, clearing the table with a smile.

Sven caught the expression in Eve's eyes and suddenly agreed that Train wouldn't.

* * *

Eve ran quietly down the stairs the moment the hour hand reached eight, eager to be the first to open presents. First, before even Train, because this was her first real Christmas and Eve wanted to enjoy the day in its entirety. Eve vaguely remembered the past Christmases she had whilst she was with Torneo – they all seemed to be covered in more blood than the usual days, with Torneo getting especially kill-happy.

"It's not like that any more," Eve muttered to herself, trying to shake herself out of the memory. She was with Sven and Train now. She was no longer a monster. She-

"Morning, Princess!" Train yelled, dashing past Eve in a blur of black. "I'm going to open the presents first – arghhhhhhh."

Eve jumped onto Train's shoulders, causing him to crash face first into the floor. With Train successfully stunned for the next five seconds, Eve transformed her hair and reached out for the first present with her name on it. Eve held the present delicately in her hands, looking at the tag thoughtfully.

"That's from me, Princess," Train said, still slightly winded. "You didn't have to step on me you know, I would have let you open presents first if you asked."

Eve eyed Train with a smile, before slowly tearing off the sticky tape and unwrapping the present. Inside the small white box was a bracelet covered in spikes. Eve slid her hand through the bracelet, admiring the gleam the sunlight had on the metal spikes before slamming her hand down on the previously pristine white box.

"Ah, I can see what this is used for," Eve smiled, staring at the bracelet with a new appreciation and thinking of the ways that she could use it as a weapon. Train smiled at her weakly, looking from the torn remains of the box to Eve's delighted, smiling face.

"I've unleashed the devil," Train muttered, grabbing the first box that had his name written in unfamiliar writing. Or maybe it was familiar. It was written in a neat familiar hand that looked oddly like…

"Sven, look what Train gave me!" Eve said excited. The whole concept of Christmas was definitely something that Eve was enjoying. The process of buying presents, and receiving was quite a bit of fun. "It's really handy for-"

"Eve, not the-" Sven swayed near the fridge, dishevelled and half asleep, forcibly woken from his slumber by the loud thumps of Train and Eve colliding with one another, only had about two seconds to realise exactly where Eve was aiming her new present.

Eve's arm looked to have swung through thin air, but had instead clipped a trip-wire that Sven had set up in the early hours of the morning, determined to prank Train the inevitable moment he reached for the fridge for a bottle of milk.

"-wire," Sven said weakly, the moment a bucket of green goo tipped over and poured its contents over Sven and his beloved hat. Meanwhile, by the Christmas tree, Train was torn between laughing at Sven's prank gone wrong and utter horror at the Christmas present that he had just unwrapped. The seemingly normal box turned out to be a box of horrors from his biggest fan, Kyoko. Despite Sven's misfortune, part of Train was ogling at the portraits of him (from initial sketch to about the 100th attempt) in the box.

"Sven," Train said, finally able to remove his eyes from the _images_ (Train wanted to describe them with another word, but he just couldn't seem to find the right one. Maybe something along the lines of the destruction of any heroic notions Train had had in his appearance? Only he wondered how on earth Kyoko saw him that way). "You look like a green Santa."

"Sven, that's something only Train would have done," Eve said disapprovingly, as Sven remained still, drops of goo staining the white floor tiles.

"A little help Eve?" Sven asked faintly, unwilling to move from the kitchen lest he permanently stain the carpet in the living area and waste more of their precious money on the clean up.

Eve, still admiring her dangerous new bracelet from Train, gave Sven a sweet smile as she carefully avoided Sven and his puddle and reached for the flour jar.

"If you're going to be Santa you need a beard," Eve said, emptying the contents of the jar at Sven.

"She completely got you, Sven!" Train howled in laughter at the site of Sven, now covered on a fine sprinkling of white flour, and at Sven's shock that Eve had actually pranked him.

"I got you too," Eve smiled sweetly, revealing a small bottle of food colouring, which she _accidentally_ spilt on Train's pristine white shirt.

"My outfit! You ruined it," Train exclaimed in horror as the red food colouring spread. Was that some red he spied on the blue jacket as well? There's no way he could work as a dignified Sweeper with stains on his clothing!

"Princess, I'm coming for you," Train yelled, pulling out Hades, his eyes wide with excitement as he prepared to chase Eve around the house.

"A little help?" Sven said faintly, unwilling to move as he watched the chaos unleash between Train and Eve.

The remainder of the presents remained untouched until the late afternoon.

**A/N: Yeah, it has been over a year since my last update, but life just got busy and writing just wasn't a priority anymore. I started writing this chapter this time last year and never got around to finishing it, so a big thanks to Mew300 for reminding me about this story and encouraging me to **_**finally**_** finish and upload this chapter ;) I'll try not to leave that long between updates next time. I'd love some reviews and feel free to leave some suggestions for future chapters too :D**


End file.
